Newport charity providing more than 200 presents this Christmas

Toys For Families collects and wraps toys to give to parents that cannot afford to buy their children presents.

The charity was set up by friends Dominique Cook and Jodie Matthews - and was originally intended just to run for one Christmas during the Covid-19 pandemic four years ago.

Although they didn't expect to have to carry it on, for many financial situations have not improved - and so the pair have carried the scheme on every year since then.

Toys for Families was originally set up during the coronavirus pandemic four years ago (Image: Dominique Cook)

This year has been particularly busy for them both with the cost of living still at an all-time high.

Ms Cook said: “Things haven’t got any better since the pandemic. The cost of living is rising, and wages are staying the same. Poverty is increasing along with the prices of everything.

“We recognised early on that the demand for our toy donations would be high again this year. We weren’t going to do it, but I had so many people saying they really needed the toys.”

The charity has expanded to gifting the elderly as well as parents and children this Christmas, including 30 dementia patients at a local care home.

Dominique and Jodie handpick each child's presents from the stack of donations (Image: Dominique Cook)They have received so many donations that they cannot accept any more, with eighty per cent of them coming from Bettws alone.

Ms Cook added: “We come from a poorer area, and I think that is why everyone is so generous here. We all know what it feels like to be in need and go without”.

Their help continues on after Christmas for the families they have connected with. Both Ms Cook and Ms Matthews have found themselves checking in this year on families they have helped in the years before.

Lots of families who have received their help previously have been able to get back on their feet this year. 

Ms Cook said: “There is not just one single group of families struggling, all kinds of families are feeling it."

The appeal to help Newport families has expanded to the wider community with lots of local businesses getting involved. 

Bettws taxi company B&C Taxis are also donating ten loads of Christmas dinners to ten of the different families this year.

More than 200 children will get a gift from Toys for Families this Christmas (Image: Dominique Cook)Lots of mothers and their children have joined in to help with the wrapping and picking of toys.

Ms Matthew has three children aged six, seven and 14, and Ms Cook has two, aged nine and eleven, and so have got them and lots of their friends involved.

Ms Cook said: “Since October our children have spent nearly every weekend at Bettws in Bloom picking and wrapping toys, they don’t get to do the typical Christmassy stuff because they are doing this with us. They have never moaned about it and their friends even come and help!

“For the families who receive our donations, it is a weight lifted off their shoulders. They can see their children happy on Christmas day waking up to presents or sit down and eat a full Christmas dinner."

Families or the friends of families in Newport that might need their help can contact ms Cook directly on 07368327156. All families and names remain confidential.