On a cold grey morning the wonderful Jill Watkinson from Soul Church, a charity based in the north of Norwich, warmly greeted me in their beautifully decorated Christmassy foyer. Soul Church have been members of the Norfolk Chambers since April, so meeting a couple of times a year is the perfect way to find out how things are going and what support they need. They always manage to surprise me with their initiatives so I was very excited to find out what they’ve been up to recently.
Soul Church strongly believe in a brighter future for those in need across Norwich and wow are they showing it! From providing the homeless with food, shelter, and a warm place to shower; to bringing the community together by delivering a free Christmas Show in their auditorium! One of the things that really blew me away was their ‘Wonder Tree’ which stands in their foyer of the church.
The idea behind ‘Wonder Tree’ is to provide gifts for every child at Mile Cross Primary School as many of them unfortunately wouldn’t have anything to open come Christmas morning. Hanging from the tree are gift tags with information about the potential recipient, such as “unisex gift for 5-8 year old”, the giver then comes back with a suitable unwrapped gift to leave under the tree. Before sending the gifts, volunteers from Soul Church, YMCA, and Norwich City Football Club will be doing a mass-wrap. With over 200 of the 400 students already able to open something the ‘Wonder Tree’ is really living up to its name!
If you’re in the area it’s the perfect place to warm up with a delicious coffee or cake and feel part of the community. Why not pop in to find out more? For more information on the wonder tree leaflet, click below!
This piece is written by Nicole Risby, Customer Experience Team.
