Shrewsbury woman spreading Christmas cheer in mother's memory
A young woman who lost her mother to cancer has channelled her grief into keeping her mum's Christmas spirit alive.
Abbie Allford, from Shrewsbury, is aiming to spread festive goodwill to hundreds of families across the UK this Christmas in the form of personalised bundles of gifts for children who may otherwise have nothing under their tree.
After losing her mother Jacqui Allford in early 2018 following a long battle with cancer, Abbie set up Stockings from Santa, and in its first year helped 300 families.
She is now in the process of registering as a charity and is appealing for donations of gifts to help fill as many stockings as possible.
She said: "Instead of being sad, I wanted to find a way to continue her amazing kindness, generosity and, most importantly, ridiculously contagious Christmas Spirit.
"I don't think you could ever meet someone more excited for their kids to wake up on Christmas morning than my mum was. Because of this, my memories of Christmases with her will always be treasured and bring a smile to my face.
"However, I knew that this was not the case for every family, with Christmas often being a huge burden which causes a lot of stress and sleepless nights.
"I wanted to find a small way to help relieve some of the pressures associated with Christmas and help those whose children may otherwise go without."
Set up and run using Abbie's own funds, Stockings From Santa fills and posts Christmas stockings for free across the UK to struggling families.
Abbie plans to open requests for stockings this year next month. She gets to know each family before creating the stocking, allowing her to tailor the gifts to each individual child.
She said: "This is important to me as I try to make sure they wake up to presents from Santa that they will truly love, and to keep that Christmas magic alive for as long as possible."
"In its first year, I was able to reach 300 families and send out a total of 509 individually filled stockings between the months of October and December. This was far beyond my initial expectations and encouraged me to do everything I could to spread the word ready for this Christmas.
"I have been overwhelmed with the love and support I have received so far, and I know that none of this would have been possible without the help of my amazing friends, family and supporters.
"I am also so appreciative of all donations of toys, games and more. People’s generosity truly blows me away."
Requests for parcels can be made through the Stockings from Santa facebook page, and Abbie is also reaching out to food banks and other charities who she hopes can direct families to the service.
