The owners of an award-winning gifting company are launching a new partnership with a hospital charity turning Santa for patients – after being blown away when their own young daughter was given a present when spending Christmas Day in hospital.
Natalie and Adam Bamford, owners of innovative Derby gifting company Colleague Box, have partnered with the Derby & Burton Hospitals Charity so that businesses, individuals and other organisations can help put a smile on the faces of thousands of patients this Christmas Day.
The couple have decided to team up with the charity’s festive appeal ensuring every patient across the charity’s sites in Derby, Burton, Lichfield and Tamworth is given a Christmas Day gift, after being deeply touched when their four-year-old daughter Poppy received a present in 2021.
Natalie said: “She was really poorly with a virus that they actually couldn’t treat in the end but all day she’d been unwell and gradually got worse and worse until it got to Christmas evening and I called 111 because her temperature was not going down below 39 degrees even with paracetamol and ibuprofen. They advised to take her to A&E, then did observations on her for a few hours before letting us go back home in the early hours of the morning.
“She received a unicorn game and I just remember thinking, “Wow, what a lovely touch this is,” and we were able to talk about how Santa can even get to hospitals on Christmas Day! It was really touching and it managed to put a smile on her face, even though she was very poorly.
“I was so grateful for all of the amazing staff working there on Christmas Day and I think the gift just really brought home the fact that we were able to walk out of that hospital that evening, albeit it was Boxing Day at this point, but it really made me realise and feel grateful because there would be children and other patients having to stay in for that Christmas period.”
In the past the hospitals charity has undertaken to give a present to every patient across its hospitals who are spending Christmas Day in hospital – amounting to around 2,000 gifts for adults and children the charity has paid for, carefully chosen and distributed every year.
This year the charity has opened up its Christmas campaign to the community, with Colleague Box coming on board to create thoughtfully put together gift boxes for patients being cared for in hospital on December 25.
Rachael Vowles, head of stakeholder management and marketing at Derby & Burton Hospitals Charity, said: “It’s very important to our charity that everyone being cared for in our hospitals on Christmas Day gets a gift. Some patients may not have any family or loved ones around them and so it’s really important for our charity to help to spread a little joy on Christmas Day by providing a gift. Our charity team work alongside our dedicated hospital teams, each year, to make sure all the gifts are distributed to every single ward across five hospitals in time for the big day.
“Colleague Box has been brilliant. They really listened to us and have come up with a beautiful list of gifts that we will be very proud to give to our patients at Christmas.
“We hope that businesses will come on board to back our Christmas campaign, and in turn we will repay their generosity through brand awareness in our hospitals.”
Anyone who would like to support the Christmas gift campaign will have the option to include a note with their company branding with the presents they donate, along with social media posts announcing their sponsorship on the charity’s Facebook, Instagram and X accounts.
Businesses are also being invited to send a team of four to Royal Derby Hospital to help the charity give gifts to NHS staff, and they will also receive a letter from the Charity’s chief officer, Jill Matthews, thanking for their support.
Natalie added: “At Colleague Box our mission is to spread joy with our gift boxes and what better way to do it than by helping patients in our local hospitals on Christmas Day. As we know personally as a family, being in hospital over Christmas is really hard so I hope the local business community really gets behind this campaign to provide Christmas presents for patients.
“We have worked with the NHS before on the Blue Light Card campaign for emergency workers and it’s really important to us that we support the amazing Derby & Burton Hospitals Charity through our work.”
Colleague Box works with companies all around the UK to deliver happiness for employees via its carefully curated gift boxes that are specially designed with sustainable packaging to fit through letterboxes. Its work on the NHS Blue Light Card Emergency Treats campaign saw Colleague Box win the Excellence in Collaboration prize at the East Midlands Chamber awards.
There are 14,500 staff working across the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, which look after more than a million patients a year.
Support and donations to Derby & Burton Hospitals Charity provide essential extras for patients and staff that are not paid for through NHS funding.
The charity has said it is extremely grateful for this support, which makes a huge difference to patients and staff working and being cared for in its hospitals.
To support the Christmas gifting campaign, see www.colleaguebox.co.uk/derbyhospitals.
