Manchester Airport staff donate £10,000 worth of presents for neighbouring communities

Colleagues at Manchester Airport have donated more than £10,000 of gifts to homeless people, care home residents and children from disadvantaged backgrounds following an appeal.

The airport has pledged that no vulnerable person in its neighbouring communities should wake up on Christmas morning without a gift. The pledge met an overwhelming response from airport staff who donated more than 1,000 presents.

The donated gifts included books, jigsaws, plush toys, Lego and colouring sets. The airport then matched this with around 1,000 more gifts.

Managing Director Chris Woodroofe and other senior management from the airport volunteered their time to wrap the mountain of presents, which have since been distributed to around a dozen community centres, care homes, family charities and foodbanks over the past week.

Age UK Manchester’s Crossacres Day Centre received 75 of the gifts, which will be shared among their clients, many of whom rely on the centre for social interaction and support with day-to-day living. Zoe Jones, the Centre Manager, said:

“Many of our day care clients are isolated, so we are their only contact with the outside world. These gifts will go a long way to making those people feel loved and valued this Christmas and will put a lot of smiles on a lot of faces, so we are extremely grateful to the staff at Manchester Airport for their generosity.”

Also benefitting is Marion Lauder House (pictured), a care home in Wythenshawe, Family Action, which operates five Children’s Centres, and Wythenshawe Foodbank was another recipient of donated gifts.

The airport’s Community Engagement team organised the collection and distribution of the gifts, and has also been involved in a number of other projects to support those living close to the airport in 2023. These have included an ‘Autumn Leaves’ lunch for people aged over 65 in the Woodhouse Park area, in an effort to combat social isolation in older age groups, and a ‘Little Book of Travel Tales’ to support children learning to read, which was shared with schools for free on World Book Day.