CHARITY WRAPPING STATION AT LONDON LOCAL CHRISTMAS MARKET CROUCH END

The London Local Team are very busy preparing for our biggest event of the year, Etsy Made Local. Etsy Made Local is a national initiative that celebrates makers, collectors and artisans through local Christmas markets. We are teaming up again with the Hornsey Town Hall Arts Centre after the success of our Spring Market back in May. As fairly new Etsy team we were overwhelmed by the support of the local Crouch End community and their eagerness to embrace “shopping small”. Returning to Crouch End made us want to give back to the community.

Last year Etsy Made Local London hosted a beautiful wrapping station for the shoppers to get their purchased gift wrapped. We enjoyed this so much we thought it would be great to offer this service in aid of a charity.

There are many worthy causes to support, but when we heard about Crouch End’s very own Action for Kids we reached out to them.

To find out more about Action for Kids, I spoke with Caroline Crang, Events and Community Fundraising Officer.

J: What is Action for Kids all about?

C: We work with young people with learning disabilities from the age of 14 to help with their transition to adulthood and to help them prepare for work. We also provide mobility equipment for disabled children and young people from 0 to 26 years of age. Our vision is of a world where all people living with a disability get to lead the life they choose, just like their non disabled peers. Our mission is to enable as many young people with disabilities as possible the opportunity to work or volunteer in the community.

J: How long have you worked at Action for Kids? How did you get involved?

C: I’ve been at AFK since January this year, I used to manage a local coffee shop and met the charity through our community work. I’ve always loved running events and it makes it so much more worthwhile when you see the importance behind your work.

J: What is your favourite aspect of your job?

C: Being able to engage with so many different people and businesses within our community on a huge range of projects and seeing how a small bit of community teamwork can turn into a life changing moment for a young disabled person.

J: What is the hardest part of your job?

C: We are a small team and charity at Action For Kids with no government funding, resources are sometimes hard to come by and when you can see potential in something but aren’t quite able to get it off the ground with ease, it can be frustrating. We rely on our supporters massively and wouldn’t be able to do what we do without them, so thank you.

J: How can people support Action for Kids?

C: There are countless ways to be involved whether that’s helping us to raise funds through local or challenge events, supporting our young people with voluntary/paid work placements or with one of the entrepreneurial projects, becoming a trustee or corporate partner and even being part of our up and coming inclusive community project – ‘On the UP’. Just visit our website or give us a call if you have an idea or want to help in any way big or small.

For more information about Action for Kids visit www.actionforkids.org or call 0208 347 8111.

So get yourself to Crouch End for some Christmas shopping and get your presents wrapped for a good cause this Christmas! The wrapping station will be located in the foyer to the Main Hall and will be manned by volunteers from the team. The wrapping station is also a great way to stop any sneaky peeking at your presents when you get home!

For more information about our Etsy Made Local event visit www.londonlocalteam.com.

Really looking forward to December and we hope to see you there!