The Entertainer has thanked thousands of shoppers for their Big Toy Appeal donations, made both in stores and online.
Generous customers of The Entertainer have donated more than 12,000 gifts to underprivileged children this year through the Big Toy Appeal, which launched in November.
Gary Grant, founder and executive chairman at The Entertainer said: “We are so grateful for the generosity of our customers. Each year, The Big Toy Appeal has been able to support even more families, with over 90,000 toys now donated since 2018.”
The retailer first joined forces with The Salvation Army in 2018 to launch The Big Toy Appeal, a campaign which aims to give as many children as possible the joy of opening a present on Christmas day.
Customers were encouraged to pick up an extra toy for the appeal when they visited The Entertainer in store or online. For every toy donated by a customer, The Entertainer matched their donations as well as providing extra toys to bring the total number of donations to over 33,000 for the Big Toy Appeal.
The Big Toy Appeal ran in each of The Entertainer’s 173 stores. Customers at The Entertainer Bromley donated the most toys, with a huge 625 donations. Their generosity was followed closely by the Taunton, Merry Hill and White City branches, with 564, 561 and 460 donations respectively.
Covid-19 has had a huge financial impact on many of the country’s families. Providing Christmas presents for children can place additional pressure when budgets are already incredibly stretched. Many families are forced to turn to charities like The Salvation Army for support, using foodbanks and relying on other donations to help them through the Christmas period.
The aim of The Big Toy Appeal is to alleviate some of this strain by providing toys for families in need, so children can have some presents to open at Christmas.
Gary added: “Enjoying the wonder of Christmas should be part and parcel of every child’s life, but the last two years have been among the most difficult that many families will ever face. Thanks to the kindness of our customers, thousands more families will be able to make memories this Christmas.”
Tony Daniels, The Salvation Army’s director of Community Services, said: “This has been a really challenging year for many families. It is really important to them to give their children gifts at Christmas, and The Entertainer and its generous customers have helped make that a reality for many families who otherwise would have been denied that joy. We are very grateful to the Entertainer and its customers for their help in making this happen.”
