Doing It for the Kids

STOP PRESS – We have a possibly unique case of estate agents doing charity work!

On Wednesday 1 December, the people of Douglas & Gordon’s estate agency will be putting their sales skills to a slightly different use: persuading people to part with their non-perishable goods for donation to the UK charity Kids Company. Shock horror – they’re even closing their offices to do it!

Kids Company is a charity which supports vulnerable inner-city children. Incredibly, its services reach 14,000 children across London. These children are often deprived and from backgrounds where they receive little practical or emotional support. Kids Company aims to provide both practical and emotional care, and give these children the help they need.

It is always staggering to be confronted with the fact that, even within the UK, there are children who are exposed to horrific violence, and face terrific threats from within their own neighbourhoods. There are children who are forced to work as drug couriers or prostitutes, and thousands are badly abused every day. The support that Kids Company provides is intended to bolster these children who have been failed by society, and with your support this Christmas the project will help thousands.

The D&G staff will be systematically knocking on doors all the way from Notting Hill to Balham this Wednesday, hoping that people won’t be hiding behind their sofas à la Halloween. They are aiming to collect as much food as they can: rice, pasta, cereals, tinned food, jams, biscuits, fruit juices and baby food. It’s all needed. Once collected, it will be ferried to the Kids Company offices in commissioned lorries, and there will be waiting 30 more members of the estate agency’s staff, like good little elves, to wrap all the presents ready for Christmas.

So if someone with a bright blue jumper bearing the slogan ‘Working together Christmas 2010’ and a slightly manic beam on their face shows up at your door demanding tinned goods, do give generously – not just those tinned chickpeas that you swore one day you would convert into hummus.  Face it: you never will.

If you’re feeling well and truly into the Christmas spirit of giving, you can donate your produce to the Douglas & Gordon offices at 67-68 Warwick Square, London SW1V 2AR, or indeed get in touch with Kids Company directly at www.kidsco.org.uk.  Needless to say, this is a great cause and they would appreciate your support.

Image by Aesop courtesy of Flickr