‘Because you never know what troubles the person next door may be going through.’
Caroline was born here in this lovely part of the world, she knows and appreciates the town’s beauty telling CommunityAd “Not only is Tenterden, and all surrounding villages, truly lovely in terms of location, nature and beauty but also has a heartfelt caring community which is one of the reasons I would now never move away”.
We’re sure we are not alone in saying we’re glad to read that Caroline isn’t leaving anytime soon and that she plans to raise her daughter here in a place she feels has community spirit and kindness in abundance. Caroline contributes to that community spirit and kindness with the Tenterden Big Wrap.
CommunityAd had the pleasure of a Christmassy chat with Caroline shortly before the big day in December.
For readers unaware, what is Tenterden’s Big Wrap all about?
Our aim is to help any family locally experiencing difficult times to have an enjoyable Christmas.
There are different aspects of this appeal. Firstly, we fundraise at every opportunity to provide family food Tesco vouchers along with the Christmas Cheer at St Mildred’s, but also appeal for brand new gifts for children from birth to wrap and deliver family Christmas gift sacks to local families. Together with the Christmas sacks each family will receive goodie bags which include Christmas crackers and chocolates and biscuits.
Family referrals are anonymous and are identified mainly via schools but any family can be referred discreetly.
Why is it important to you personally? And to the community of Tenterden?
This began with a discussion with my now 11-year-old back in November 2016 talking about Christmas. She caught me off guard as at the age of 6 she told me that the previous Christmas some of her friends had not had presents; although 6, any parent will attest, children of that age do have incredible memory so I totally believed her. I then recalled in my childhood that my mum would put together a box with donations of cans of food and we donated a toy too which was left at St Mildred’s. This inspired a thought to collaborate with St Mildred’s regarding this with the possibility to also ask local schools to hold gift and food bank donation events.
To give any family who might be experiencing difficult times and particularly at Christmas with just a little support hopefully helps in many aspects.
Have you been surprised by the generosity of the community?
I cannot begin to express the gratitude of the generosity of our wonderful community! In 2020, clearly one of the potentially most troubled years, we understandably thought it would impact on so many; we had no idea how this would work with the different aspects regarding how we usually run the Big Wrap.
Out of the blue Chloe Newman who was running the local PPE mask making project divided financial donations to the Big Wrap and the Food Bank which was amazing. The local schools were able to the run donation days which was truly incredible as were the donation of gifts and food and hygiene bank items. We were able to hold a raffle which grew with offers of more and more prizes and became an incredible raffle and raised over £1,000!
Tenterden Big Wrap has again provided Christmas cheer for many in Tenterden and beyond this past Christmas. CommunityAd would like to say a massive well done to everyone who has donated or got involved with this compassionate community project. Caroline can’t say thanks enough, before leaving she adds “I must reiterate and emphasise, without the extreme generosity of our local community, businesses both large and small and the support of local churches, Tenterden Big Wrap and its aim would simply not exist”.