Campaign to provide gifts for people across the country has launched instore.

To date, the campaign has provided almost 100,000 gifts to local communities.

All 180 Dunelm stores throughout the UK are partnering with local causes, including schools, care homes and refuges to deliver gifts and decorations to those who may otherwise have little to open on Christmas Day.

After delivering thousands of gifts donated by kindly customers last Christmas, Dunelm, the home of homes, is once again launching its community-focused festive campaign, Delivering Joy. Now in its fourth year, the campaign aims to help people across the UK that may not otherwise receive a gift to open on Christmas Day.

The campaign is simple – customers can collect from any Dunelm store a tag with a gift request from a local good cause, including schools, care homes, refuges and charities. They return the tag, attached to a gift which can be from any retailer and Dunelm will ensure the gift is delivered before Christmas.

Last year’s campaign saw the number of donated gifts soar from just shy of 20,000 to more than 60,000. This year looks likely to top that, with posts of the gift request tags shared by store colleagues going viral as Dunelm Community Facebook members shared with friends and family to encourage them get involved in the heartwarming campaign. With many thousands of likes already and some stores already having had all their first wave of tags collected within the first few days of the campaign, the hope is that this year Dunelm will be able to deliver more joy than ever before.

The trees and tags are already in all Dunelm stores and, like last year, Dunelm store colleagues have noticed that many of the requests are incredibly simple, suggesting that the potential recipients are still struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

Children have been asking for new underwear, teddies, hair bobbles for school and packets of crisps. Last year, store colleagues noticed many people put winter essentials at the top of their wish lists with items such as hats, scarves, socks, toiletries and festive food items like selection boxes in high demand.

Kelly Nichols, a colleague from Dunelm’s St Helen’s store said “It’s heartbreaking to see these types of gifts being requested and some of our colleagues have been in tears reading them. But it’s understandable during this cost-of-living crisis and that’s why the Delivering Joy campaign is so important.”

Amanda Cox, Chief People Officer & Stores Director at Dunelm said: “Over the past three years we are proud to have helped deliver nearly 100,000 gifts to thousands of people who may not otherwise had anything to open on Christmas Day – by helping our customers to give a gift, make a gift or donate their unused decorations, our stores and colleagues are again doing all they can to help support their local communities.

“With the cost-of-living crisis still impacting many families and the elderly, we want to deliver as much joy as we can for those who may need some extra support this Christmas. We’ve already been overwhelmed by the generosity we’ve seen from so many of our customers as they look to help others during these challenging times.”

Any of this year’s tags that aren’t fulfilled by the middle of December will be funded by Dunelm to ensure no one goes without this Christmas.

How does the campaign work?

Dunelm colleagues work with local care homes, schools, refuges and charities to collect individual tags carrying a request for a gift that also includes the recipient’s gender, age and choice of gift.
All the tags are hung on the Delivering Joy tree that can be found in every Dunelm store so that customers can collect one.
Once the customer has chosen a gift, which can be from any retailer, they return it to store with the tag attached.
Dunelm then arranges the delivery of all the gifts in time for Christmas.
Customers can also make a gift or donate unused Christmas decorations to bring additional festive cheer to the community causes involved.

This year, customers can also give an online gift through Dunelm’s charity partner, Mind. Customers can choose to donate £5, £10 or £20, that will help fund information booklets about mental health, fund Mind’s trained Infoline team and provide support through Side by Side, Mind’s online community.