A trio of West Ham United players showed their support for Ambition Aspire Achieve’s Kevin Jenkins OBE Newham Christmas Toy Appeal with a visit last week.
Defender Kurt Zouma was joined by Academy youngsters Will Greenidge and Remy Coddington at the Appeal’s headquarters in Stratford to help select and pack toys to be distributed to local children in need.
Ambition Aspire Achieve (AAA) is an official charity partner of the Hammers and delivers a wide range of projects and services from their two hubs and across local communities in Newham. Their work particularly focuses on and supports children and young people most in need, including those with disabilities or additional needs.
Part of their work in Newham is the Christmas Toy Appeal, now in its 45th year and named in honor of the charity’s founder, the late Kevin Jenkins OBE.
Each child supported will be experiencing the ravages of poverty each and every day, compounded by their own combination of multiple difficulties and challenges, such as poor and/or temporary accommodation, food hunger, poor wellbeing, emotional needs, educational underachievement, behavioral difficulties, disability and/or additional needs, being a victim of personal abuse, violence or bereavement. Without support, a Christmas Day to enjoy would not be possible.
AAA will be aiming to provide for each child a Christmas stocking of gifts specific to their age, needs, abilities, and wherever possible, their most wished-for gift to open on Christmas morning, allowing them to experience a real Christmas Day, rather than just another day the same as every other.
For 18-year-old forward Coddington, he too was humbled by the opportunity to make a difference for local children, as part of the Club’s Players’ Project.
He added: “We’ve learned about this great charity, giving these gifts to young children in the local area. We’ve been picking out some presents for the kids who don’t have ways to get presents otherwise, so it’s been great being able to help.
“It makes you think about how we might take stuff for granted. Me being a young kid, I’ve been brought up having Christmas presents all the time, so being here and seeing all these presents for the less fortunate makes you feel honored to be a part of it.”
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