Our 5 ambitions this festive season: Christmas made in Big Hearts

Hearts Women visited Big Hearts after-school club as we announced our plans to support the most vulnerable & isolated over the festive season. Scotland U19 goalkeeper Emily Mutch & Hearts first team Defender Georgia Hunter met kinship care families to kick-off our charity’s Christmas activity.

Over the festive season, Big Hearts aims to deliver 5 key-projects:

1.Christmas Day Lunch:
For the third year Big Hearts will serve a free festive meal on 25th December. The initiative is held in partnership with Heart of Midlothian FC, who will once again open the doors of the Main Stand to help our charity provide good food and company to those most isolated and vulnerable on Christmas Day – including older people who would otherwise spend Christmas alone and families living in poverty. Click here to find out more.

2.Gift Back Appeal:
This December, Big Hearts launched their first ‘Gift Back Appeal’ with corporate partners. Staff from the North British Distillery and Prospero Insurance have committed to fill rucksacks with various items tailored to young people involved in our programmes. Volunteers from Scottish Water are joining the efforts to wrap up and organise their distribution in time before Christmas morning!

3.Festive Memories Lunch:
Over 90 older participants from our Football & Edinburgh Memories programme are invited to enjoy a tasty Christmas meal at the Stadium, along with entertainment from the Stenhouse Primary School Choir and special football guest Steve Finan. The event is part of the SPFL Trust ‘Festive Friends’ initiative, aimed at offering opportunities for over 65s at a time of the year when they can feel particularly lonely or isolated.

4.Food Hampers Initiative:
Big Hearts Volunteers will be on hand in the days prior to Christmas to help our partner and neighbour Tynecastle High School deliver food hampers. Every year, staff from the school team up to donate and prepare large boxes of food for local families of school pupils living in poverty or at risk of social isolation during the Christmas holidays.

5.School’s Out Project:
With the support from the charity Cash For Kids and referrals from Tynecastle High School, Big Hearts will deliver its successful holiday support to vulnerable young pupils in P3 to S1 who are living in the Tynecastle cluster. School’s Out will start on the 3rd January to provide breakfast, hot lunch and engaging activities until the end of the Christmas break on 9th January.

To help us achieve these 5 ambitions, Big Hearts is asking supporters to take 1 action in December. The #51challenge was launched earlier this month with various opportunities for Hearts fans to make a difference at Christmas: volunteering their time, donating money or signing-up to an event.