Operation Santa Report 2014
All you need is a miracle … The 2014 appeal has been the most successful ever, with a staggering 12,258 donations! That’s no mean feat when the economic outlook is still fairly dire and people are struggling to make ends meet and keep a roof over their heads, without supporting local charities. Compiling this year’s report following another successful Operation Santa, I am struck by the fact that despite feeling the squeeze on their finances, especially at this time of year, local people and businesses have still dug deep and we have still managed to co-ordinate another successful toy appeal and reach more local children and young people than ever! I think the strength of our appeal, apart from the incredible people who’ve supported it, is that we are a local appeal for local children in Dudley borough. Our ethos has always been to make a difference locally and why support overseas aid, when there are children and young people living in poverty on our doorstep! To make it even easier to support us this year we put together a ‘wishlist’ of suggested gifts, including items such as food and toiletries, to support our fellow charity ‘Black Country Foodbank’. We launched our Operation Santa Appeal with a very special guest. Brett Harris from Blaze Hair, who’s a huge supporter of Operation Santa, invited his friend ‘Simon’, to help us launch the appeal and here they are in the salon, along with the Blaze Angels and another Brett from Bretts Barbers Shops. ‘Simon’ said: “Brett has been a fantastic supporter of the Dudley CVS Operation Santa appeal for several years and each year he surpasses himself with both the number and quality of the toys and games he collects and donates and which make a huge difference to thousands of under-privileged kids in Dudley borough,” said ‘Simon,’ adding, “Brett and Dudley CVS get my vote, they certainly have got the X-mas Factor.”
Social media keeps everyone updated As in previous years the Operation Santa blog was used to promote the Appeal and as the donations climbed, daily updates were posted on the blog and more people started following the progress. In fact we now have 1146 followers. We had 244 hits on one day alone and lots of comments and sharing via Twitter, and our new Facebook page, which was a runaway success with 111 likes and lots of conversations about how the appeal was progressing. I really feel this has helped to boost this year’s appeal even further and lets people ask questions about what we do. Why not visit: www.operationsanta.wordpress.com to read about our adventures this year and be ready to follow next year’s appeal by signing up for updates? Or you can follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Operationsanta.Dudleyborough
1