350 vulnerable children in South Wales to have a Merry Christmas thanks to present donation drive

350 vulnerable children across South Wales will have a merrier Christmas this year after Itec learners took part in a special project to provide Christmas gifts to families in need.

As part of the ‘December to Remember’ project, learners from Itec centres in Neath, Bridgend, Cardiff, Barry, Newport, Blackwood, Aberdare and Pontypridd teamed up with Gwent Police, Cardiff Council, Cyfannol Women’s Aid, Refuge Women’s Aid and Thrive Women’s Aid to support vulnerable families at Christmas.

With the rising cost of living and poverty in Wales, sessions were delivered to all learners at Itec, one of Wales’ leading training providers, to explore the issues facing vulnerable communities at this time of year. From this, the learners developed plans to raise money and gift donations to provide children who may have otherwise gone without with presents.

One of the ways the Itec learners raised money was to set up a stall at Cardiff’s Christmas market, selling homemade items such as gonks, hot chocolate cones, organic bird feed, and dog treats. From this alone, they raised over £500 to put towards the gifts. Other fundraising activities included writing to local businesses for donations, hosting raffles, and hitting the town centres armed with donation buckets.

Over £1,500 was raised in total, exceeding donation targets and allowing learners to not only provide a gift for each child, but several presents for them to unwrap on Christmas day.

Julie Dyer, Head of Operations at Itec, said: “It has been amazing to see our learners take ownership of this project with such enthusiasm. Learners can see the struggles that families are faced with at this time of year and how some of the most vulnerable children may not have anything to open on Christmas day.

“Our learners have also benefitted from the project, developing skills in problem solving, teamwork, communication, and entrepreneurship as well as building their confidence and social skills. We are so proud of their commitment to the December to Remember project, and already look forward to replicating this next year!”

Itec is one of the largest and most vocationally diverse work-based learning providers in Wales holding Welsh Government contracts to deliver Apprenticeships, Jobs Growth Wales Plus (JGW+) and a DWP contract, as a provider of Serco, to deliver Restart.

It has centres across South and Mid Wales in Cardiff, Newport, Cwmbran, Blackwood, Pontypridd, Bridgend, Swansea, Monmouth, Abergavenny, Barry, Aberdare, Brynmawr, and Neath.