Two girls give out 128 Christmas gift bags to care home residents who 'might be sad'

Belle and Dottie Linehan have handmade 128 gift bags full of treats and for care home residents of Four Acres Care Home based in Studley and Brambles Residential Care Home in Redditch as the girls thought the residents “might be sad”.

With the help from their mum, Stephanie Martin, Belle aged seven and Dottie, aged five set up an appeal on Facebook for donations which included a wish list with items people could choose to donate and organised a raffle which raised £350.

Ms Martin bought paper bags and the girls happily decorated the gift bags themselves with paint and rubber stamps before delivering 64 gift bags to Four Acres in Studley on 27 November.

The delivery of the presents was filled with sentiment for the family as Ms Martin's nan was a resident at Four Acres. She said: “When I was young, my nan used to always put £20 notes inside Christmas cards and send me off to give to the neighbours who were not so well off to give them as a gift.

“Unfortunately, she passed away earlier in the year. She was a resident at Four Acres for four weeks.

“So every year, we as a family like to do something for the community.”

'I am so proud of them and the effort they have put'

Last year the family collected toys and donated them to Inspire in Redditch and the previous year, made hampers for victims of domestic abuse.

Ms Martin said: “As the girls are older this year, I let them come up with the idea.”

When their nan was still alive, Ms Martin says the girls always called her “Nanny Smokey because of the colour of her hair.

“So when my Nan died earlier this year, the girls wanted to do something for Nanny Smokey’s friends as they might be sad and the girls decided they wanted to make gift bags for all her friend still there.”

After receiving the gift bags, Diane Wood, wellbeing lead at Four Acres Care Home presented the girls with a selection box each and said: “What a lovely thing to do.”

Ms Martin said: “The girls were surprised by the gift and said: ‘But mummy, we didn’t want anything.’

“I am so proud of them and the effort they have put into this.”

“I hope the residents enjoy their Christmas presents.”

The family were originally only making gift bags for the Four Acres but a friend of Ms Martin who works at Brambles Residential Care Home asked them to make gift bags for their residents too and the number doubled to 128.

On Saturday 4 December, the family are going back to Four Acres to deliver the remaining gift bags to the care home staff where they can open them on Christmas day.

Ms Martin added: “After delivering the bags to all the residents, we have some gift sets leftover thanks to all the donations. I’m covering all bases and adding a few tipples in there too.”

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