The 4 steps to making someone's Christmas

Step 1 – set your goals - October

The first step in organising donations to your local care homes is thinking through your ambitions and how much time you can dedicate to the cause. Contacting more care homes than you can provide gifts to (both through donations and your own time) will cause disappointment. Care homes are always grateful for donations so it’s always better to underestimate the number and contact any additional homes nearer the time if you have spare gifts.

Step 2 – research and contact care homes - October-mid November

This can be as simple as googling ‘care homes, [insert town here].’ The best way to contact homes is via email as you have an audit trail of your conversation you can use as proof of your arrangement with the home. I’ll shortly be sharing the emails that I’ve previously sent out as well as a template you can adapt. Most care homes aren’t heavy email users so don’t be disheartened if you don’t receive a response. I emailed 6 care homes this year and have only heard back from one so far. I’ll be following the others up with a phone call or visit (during the week while the manager is working). When contacting the care homes you’ll want to know how many residents without friends or family they currently have as well as gender split and special considerations (residents with allergies and diabetes, particular gifts that would go down well with certain residents).

Step 3 – contact friends and family (for gift donations) - Mid November-start of December

The reason i would recommend doing this closer after contacting care homes is because it’s best to ask for donations while people are in the Christmas mood. Of course, it’s a good idea to let close friends and family know what you’re planning to do to get their support and estimate how many donations you’re likely to receive. I asked for donations through Facebook and a team shout at work. I was overwhelmed with the response, particularly from some colleagues at work I’d never spoken to before!

Step 4 – drop presents off - December – as close to Christmas as possible

It’s best to arrange drop offs with the care home in advance. You’ll need the support of the centre manager to either allocate gifts (if you’ve not done this in advance) and hand them to the right residents. Also the care home in advance if you can take photos if you’d like to, I had a mixed response to this last year. Don’t underestimate how long it takes to drop off presents, last year I spent around 2 hours in a care home as there many residents with no friends or family and I wanted to spend some time with them too. Last year I spread this over two days, visiting care homes (23rd and 24th December). 

Make someone’s Christmas!