Giving Back This Christmas

At this time of year when many people are struggling to make ends meet and keep their homes warm, Caravan, thanks to the excellent support it receives from across the industry, is able to help make the lives of former and current grocery industry colleagues that little bit better.

£100 Bonus Payments
Caravan beneficiaries receive an annual payment of £804, which is split into quarterly payments. This year, as a result of a very successful year of fundraising, the December quarterly payment to eligible beneficiaries includes an extra £100 per beneficiary. The charity also supports 139 dependants of beneficiaries who this Christmas will receive an extra £100 each.

Together these payments boost our regular welfare support by £181,400, making the December welfare payout a record £598,400!

'Virtual' Hamper
A firm favourite with Caravan beneficiaries is the arrival of the 'Virtual Hamper'. Each year this contains a broad range of vouchers, gift cards and coupons from industry retailers and suppliers.

Retailers such as Asda, J Sainsbury, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Tesco and The Co-operative have all pledged spend-in-store gift vouchers ranging from £3 to £10 per person. In addition, suppliers such as Adams Foods, Allied Bakeries, Arla, Birds Eye, Booker, Heinz, Kavli, Kellogg's, Kimberly-Clark, Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo, United Biscuits, Unilever, Warburtons and Weetabix have donated tens of thousands of pounds worth of free products, ranging in value from 50p to £5 per beneficiary.

We would also like to thank Booker, magnetharlequin and MRM (Multi Resource Marketing) for their invaluable support of this project too.

Around 1,675 beneficiaries will receive the 'virtual Christmas hampers' from Caravan in December. Each hamper is worth just over £68, making the 2011 Christmas virtual hamper extra special by giving away more than £114,000 worth of vouchers, coupons and gift cards to our beneficiaries.

Gillian Barker, Director General at Caravan, comments: "Whilst Christmas is generally the busiest time for our industry it is so heartwarming to see so many companies coming together to support former industry colleagues."

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our supporters and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.