Christmas time came around very quickly this year for Project Parent, and after many hiccups in the lead up to the big day, we managed to get all of our boxes drop off at hospitals in Newcastle, Leeds, Lancaster, Bristol, and Southampton. It ended up being a race against time for the Project Parent staff and especially for founder Kate, who had a number of problems with a courier company failing to collect the parcels to send out to each of the area leaders.

On a positive note, we managed to somehow get everything out to them, and every single one of them did a fantastic job in getting their bags sorted and handed out. And so, a big thank you goes out to Kate, Kristina, Sophie, Shaun, and Andrew for their hard work in the build up to the festive period, and indeed their patience in dealing with the courier problem.

This years boxes contained a number of gifts that we think will help the parents whilst they are in hospital with their children over the festive period. This included, tea towels, crossword books, photo frames, socks, candles, shower gel, shampoo, hand sanitiser, christmas decorations, and chocolate. We would also like to hand out a big thank you to LUSH who donated a huge amount of items for our Newcastle and Bristol gift bags. Another thank you goes to Angela Brady who donated items from Forever Living to our Newcastle gift bags.

The first boxes this year were dropped off by Andrew, to Leeds General Infirmary Children's Hospital. Andrew was keen to stress just how impressive the staff there were, and how they went out of their way to help with the delivering of the boxes. Only a day after the boxes were dropped off we received a lovely letter of thanks from the staff at LGI, which really put a smile on the face of those who work for Project Parent. We also received some feedback from a parent in Leeds who told us that the gift bags were "unexpected and much appreciated."

Boxes were then handed out by our little elves at Southampton and Bristol, where staff were thrilled to receive gift donations for the parents. Kristina, our Bristol leader, has been instrumental in fundraising this year, and has struck up a connection between ourselves and Bristol Rugby Club. We are really looking forward to taking this further going into next year. Kristina was joined by Rory, Tom, and Connie in handing out the boxes in Bristol. A big thank you goes out to everyone that helped down in Bristol.

Our Southampton boxes were handed out by a relatively new member of our team, Sophie. Sophie had help from family in handing out the boxes. Although she is a new member of our team, we cannot thank Sophie enough for the amount of work and enthusiasm she has put into our operation over the past couple of months. She has approached everything with a fantastic attitude and we cannot wait to have her with us for the whole of next year.

This years boxes for Manchester, ended up being changed to Lancaster due to logistical reasons, and Shaun did a fantastic job in getting them to Lancaster Hospital. With help from his sister Shaun handed out forty gift bags to the staff at Royal Lancaster Infirmary. Shaun is a well valued member of our team, always wanting to help out and always offering great zeal in how to push us forward.

And finally, the boxes in Newcastle were handed out by Kate. Kate has been an absolute inspiration to everyone this year with her passion, warmth, and energy. Kate hasn't had the greatest of years this year herself, having spent some time in hospital. Despite this she has not given up on her dream, she has not given up on her volunteers, and she has not given up on the parents. I'm sure I speak for everyone involved with Project Parent when I say that I am, incredibly proud of her and the amount of effort she has put inot this over the past year. In the face of adversity she has shown just how strong she is. The Newcastle boxes were handed out to the RVI, and staff there even remembered Kate from last year when she handed out our first ever set of boxes.

We cannot stress enough just how important donations are for us to keep this operation running. For 2016 we are giving people the oportunity to sponsor a box for the sum of £10. If this is something that you would be interested in then please head over to our donate page and send us a donation. We would also love that sponsored box to go to your local hospital, so we would love it if you could also contact us using the contact page and send us a message saying where that is for you.

Everyone at Project Parent hopes you have had a very Merry Christmas, and a  Happy New Year!