Caring girls make special Christmas delivery

Katy Hill, and daughters, Chloe, nine, and Laurie, eight, have helped to make Christmas special for residents at Downshaw Lodge Dementia Residential Home in Ashton.

The girls delivered 150 cards and presents to the local care home, that included biscuits, chocolate boxes and toiletries. They also took along softer, liquid foods for those at a more advanced stage of illness.

But it isn’t the girls’ first charitable act, throughout lockdown they’ve helped to distribute free school meals from their grandparents’ chip shop in Middleton, gifted snack boxes to nurses at Tameside Hospital and sent food packages to North West Ambulance Service.

Katy said: “I chose the care home because my grandad has Alzheimer’s, and though he’s lucky enough to live at home, he might one day need the support of somewhere like Downshaw Lodge.

“Even a card can make a different to the residents there. 

“They feel forgotten, so if you can, just send a joke, a card, anything, so that they know the community cares about them. 

“The care home was totally overwhelmed by the donations, they hadn’t been expecting so many gifts, and I was completely overwhelmed too.”

Their plans for the future are to help underprivileged children from the girls’ school, when they will be using money left over from a fundraiser earlier in the year that saw £2,000 raised for struggling families in just two days.