By Charlotte Cain
A team is holding a Charity Toy Drive over the next month involving collecting toys at De Montfort University so children have presents on Christmas morning.
The CEM faculty’s Research Innovation (CEM RIO) team at DMU are hosting the toy drive where over the next four weeks they are collecting items for the Toys on the Table appeal so they can be distributed around Leicestershire.
Cara Bennett, a member of the CEM RIO team, said: “It has a huge impact, as a child waking up on Christmas morning and having nothing, we thought we could do something to help.”
How it works is they will try to collect as many toys as possible by Friday, December 13. They will hand these over to the Leicester charity, Toys on the Table, which works with the city and county councils to make parcels to distribute to the children referred by various institutions such as social workers and schools.
This is the first time the CEM RIO team have hosted this event. It follows a successful Macmillan coffee morning in October when they raised £530 and had support from all over the university.
The original event was suggested by one of their PhD students who holds the charity close to their heart.
The team are very excited for this event and there are even talks of dressing up as elves to distribute the gifts.
When asked if they would like to do more charity events, Cara said: “As often as we can, whenever the opportunity becomes available.”
Anyone interested in donating toys and gifts can go to the CEM Research Innovation offices in room 4.64 in Gateway House or email Cara at cara.bennett@dmu.ac.uk.
