6 retailers supporting good causes this Christmas
From John Lewis to H Samuel, here’s how some of the UK’s retailers are supporting charities over the Christmas period.
John Lewis
John Lewis’s Christmas ad sees sales of some of the items featured in it benefitting Action for Children and Who Cares? Scotland. This year’s ad was put together with specialist advice from Action for Children and Who Cares? Scotland and is intended to raise awareness of those living in and leaving care over Christmas. A quarter of the value of sales of a special toy bear and other products, including a skateboard as shown in the ad, will go to charities Action for Children and Who Cares? Scotland. John Lewis stores will also have “giving trees” where shoppers can pick up a bauble which enables them to donate £5 to £15 to the causes at the till.
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Lidl
Lidl’s Christmas ad has a new star this year, Lidl Bear. Instead of selling the character in Lidl stores, Lidl Bear has instead been the inspiration for Lidl’s Christmas charitable drive; Lidl Bear’s Toy Bank (more on this here), with, Lidl is asking everyone who can spare any toys this Christmas to donate to its toy bank by dropping off new and unopened toys and games at their local store. Toys are being donated via local charities and community groups such as food banks and community centres.
Co-op
Co-op has abandoned its usual multimillion pound Christmas ad this year to focus on raising awareness of community food initiatives. It has partnered with Your Local Pantry and is channelling the money into helping it to set up 150 more Pantries across the UK over the next three years. See more on this here.
Boots
Santa’s magical glasses that appear in Boot’s Christmas advert can be bought in store for £2, with 50p from each sale donated to The Prince’s Trust.
Dunelm
For the third Christmas in a row, Dunelm is Delivering Joy to people in its local communities who might otherwise go without. Dunelm stores are partnering with local schools, care homes and refuges and with customers’ help, are hoping to spread some festive cheer. It has been inviting people to take a tag from the Delivering Joy tree in their local store. Each one offers an insight into who’s going to be receiving their gift and they’ll all be local residents. People were invited to make or buy a gift and were then asked to pop it in an unsealed gift bag and take it back into the store by Sunday 11 December. Dunelm will then deliver the gifts in the run-up to Christmas.
H. Samuel
Young cancer patient Toby Knight, 5 from Gloucestershire, stars in this year’s national fundraising campaign from H. Samuel to raise money for young people facing cancer this Christmas. Every year, the jewellers sell a limited-edition bear to raise money for Young Lives vs Cancer. This year’s bear, Harriet, is on sale in store and online for £9.99 to help children and young people, like Toby, this Christmas. 100% of all of the profits from each sale will be donated to Young Lives vs Cancer.