Castleford woman overwhelmed by people's generosity as Easter appeal collects 1,300 eggs for children

"My hallway was full of Easter eggs and now Ive delivered them I feel so accomplished."

Earlier this year, Abbi Jones began the appeal, calling out to the community on Facebook to donate an Easter egg or one pound which would go towards the appeal.

Since then, she has collected and distributed over 1,300 Easter eggs amongst charities and organisations across the Five Towns

She chose to donate 500 of the eggs to a group very close to her heart, The Old Quarry Adventure Playground, locally known as ‘The Addy’ in Knottingley, who provide a safe space for children to play.

An Easter appeal to provide chocolate eggs to children across Five Towns has seen 1,300 treats being donated

Abbi said: “I’ve been so overwhelmed by the generosity of my friends, family and people I’ve never met in the community.

“I’ve been in my element, the Easter egg appeal has taken up all of my spare time outside of my full time job.

“Just remembering how grateful people have been for the donations has me sat here with a big smile on my face.

Due to her job at Wakefield District Housing, Abbi works closely with staff and children The Addy playground.

She wanted to ensure every child at The Addy went home with an Easter egg this year.

But after an overwhelming amount of donations towards the appeal, she has been able to donate surplus eggs to a number of other charities, including Leeds Hospital Charity, Airedale Foodbank, Inspire futures foundation, 'Alba's adventures' Journey through home education, The Link food bank, Smawthorne, Castleford, The Circle pantry club, St Catherine’s Church food bank, Wakefield and The Prince of Wales Hospice.

To thank those who kindly donated, Abbi gave each person a raffle ticket for the chance to win a prize.

Abbi said: “It’s hard to imagine, but not every child will get an Easter egg this year - so I felt like it was important to do my bit.

“And with lockdown being so boring this has kept me so focused on doing something nice for people.

“Everyone on board has been so amazing, my hallway was full of Easter eggs and now I’ve delivered them all I feel so accomplished.

“I’m so pleased with how successful it’s been and I’ll definitely be doing more for the community in future - lockdown has really brought out the best in people.”