The Big Wrap History

Trustees: Caroline Baker, Jenny Lucas, Linda and David Warner

The Big Wrap began in 2016 after Caroline felt compelled to organise an appeal to help families in Tenterden, St Michaels and local areas. This appeal was and is for any families who might be struggling, for any reason, to have an enjoyable Christmas.

One big influence was Mollie, Caroline’s then six-year-old daughter. The previous year Mollie had expressed concern that some of her friends had not received the gifts they asked Father Christmas for. This made her upset for her friends.

This stayed in Caroline’s mind. She wanted Mollie to understand that while not all families have the Christmas enjoyed without too much difficulty by so many, something could be done support those families discreetly.

Unsure of how to begin this, she recalled that as a child she had taken boxes of items to St Mildred’s Church to support people at Christmas, so she contacted Reverend Lindsay Hammond to ask if such support was in place.

A very successful meeting with Lindsay led to the collaboration for the Christmas Cheer, which was the church’s donation request at Christmas and The Big Wrap to appeal for and wrap brand new Christmas gifts for children.

Initial thoughts were to help families in local schools. Coordinating with Family Liaison Officers in Tenterden, St Michael’s, Rolvenden and Wittersham worked well and all held wonderful gift appeal days too.

There was a keen aspiration to not exclude anyone from bringing an item in on donation day. With the Food Bank in mind, we suggested donations of a wide range of festive items from packets of biscuits to an opened roll of wrapping paper or cellotape as an alternative to gift donations which worked well.

How it works

Referrals for families experiencing difficult times at Christmas are received via local schools’ Family Liaison Officers or other discreet community-respected referrals. All referrals are completely anonymous with the information received being simply the number of family members and the gender of children in the family.

Since 2016 many families have received support from The Big Wrap. The need to help families in difficulties at Christmas will never cease and unfortunately is likely to increase in coming years. The Big Wrap always hopes to continue to help.

The Big Wrap Charity

Caroline realised that this needed to be set up as a charity so the Small Charity Constitution was created with Trustees Jenny Lucas, Linda and David Warner, plus many others helping out. Without their help and support it simply would not exist.

Tenterden and surrounding local areas

We are often asked why does Tenterden and local areas need such support. It is sad to confirm that there are many families locally who find themselves experiencing a difficult time at Christmas for many reasons who welcome support.

None of this would be achieved without the support of our wonderful schools, businesses and general community.