Help spread some festive cheer with Lemn's Christmas Dinner team

17 Nov 2016

We're looking for volunteers or donations to provide a Christmas dinner for 50 care leavers at a University location

Our Chancellor Lemn Sissay has been involved with this project over the last few years and its success has seen similar events spread to cities across the UK, including Leeds, Oxford, Liverpool and London.

There's two ways people can help – by volunteering as hosts on Christmas Day or by buying gifts from our Amazon gift list.

Hosting involves being on hand on Christmas Day to ensure things go smoothly – this might involve welcoming guests, playing games, pulling crackers – or just making sure people know what’s happening and when.

It can be varied but mostly it's being an extra pair of hands to ensure things go smoothly.  And of course, you get to sit down and enjoy a scrumptious Christmas dinner!  

There is a training session in advance of the day.

Volunteer Emma Lewis, UG Recruitment and Widening Participation Officer, has written a blog about the event, and she says: "Volunteering with this project has brought some of the magic back for me. 

"Seeing the kindness of total strangers giving up their time and/or money to donate to young people who might otherwise be spending Christmas alone. That's the real magic of Christmas."

You can find out more information on the Manchester Christmas Dinner's Facebook and Twitter pages, or email emma.lewis@manchester.ac.uk or mcr@thechristmasdinner.org.uk.