Staff and customers of popular Northampton pub, The Lamplighter pulled together to spread some Christmas cheer last week. In what has been an incredibly difficult year for the hospitality industry, The Lamplighter had not yet reopened after the second lockdown when owner, Paul Hanna approached local housing provider Northampton Partnership Homes (NPH) to offer his support to their Christmas appeal:
“I knew that the team at NPH were collecting treat items for residents going through tough times and wondered if I could do a bit more this year than donate a few selection boxes. We have a strong and loyal community at The Lamplighter, so I expected a good response when I shared this appeal on our social channels, but we were stunned by the volume of donations we took in.”
The NPH Christmas project provides food hampers to residents struggling over the Christmas period and is made possible by NPH staff donating items for the hampers, as well as their own time. After a difficult year for everyone, the need is higher than ever due to the impact of the pandemic.
Paul, Emma and Josh opened The Lamplighter all day to receive the donations, which were collected by members of the NPH team. Claire Kenyon, community investment officer said:
“We are absolutely blown away by the kindness of the community. We picked up 5 carloads of donations, which is just amazing, and the quality and thoughtfulness of the items moved us beyond words. The donations will be added to hampers and will make them even more festive and special than ever before. We can’t thank the Lamplighter team and customers enough.”
Thanks to this real community effort, NPH will be able to put together around 250 hampers of basic food items and some special Christmas treats for households all over Northampton.
NPH would also like to thank Giving World, Morrisons and staff at the Natwest, Drapery branch for their support.If you know of a NPH resident in need of support this Christmas, please get in touch on 0300 330 7003 or through the website: www.nph.org.uk.
