Charity – Seymour House

Seymour House Supports Home-Start Essex with Annual Christmas Shoebox Appeal

Sarah Wightwick — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 14:31:50 +0000

Seymour House has once again proudly supported Home-Start Essex with our annual Christmas shoebox appeal, helping to ensure that children supported by the charity receive a thoughtful gift during the festive season.

Each year, our families and nursery team come together to donate small items that can be lovingly packed into a shoebox. These gifts, ranging from toys and books to practical care items such as gloves, hats, toothbrushes and soap, are sorted by age and gender before being given to children attending Home-Start Family Groups.

An important and joyful part of the appeal is seeing the children in our nurseries join in. With a sprinkle of festive excitement in the air, they decorate the shoeboxes with bright colours, careful designs and plenty of smiles. Their creativity adds a touch of Christmas magic to every box, and the experience helps them learn about kindness, empathy and the joy of giving to others during this special time of year.

This year, the generosity of our families and nursery team has been greatly appreciated. The collection included a wonderful variety of gifts, alongside many additional donations that will support families who may have very few presents to open this Christmas.

When collecting the shoeboxes, Melissa Reynolds, Events and Partnerships Manager at Home-Start Essex, expressed her appreciation for the support shown by Seymour House. In her message, she shared how moved she was by the thoughtfulness behind every item and the care taken in sourcing and packing each shoebox.

Reflecting on the appeal, Caroline Clark, Head of Operations at Seymour House, said:
“Our annual shoebox appeal is a meaningful opportunity for our families, parents, carers and nursery team to support Home-Start Essex at a particularly important time of year. We are incredibly grateful for every donation and proud of the children who help decorate the shoeboxes with such enthusiasm. Together, we are helping to bring comfort and joy to local families this Christmas.”

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed. Your continued kindness and support make a real difference to children and families across Essex, and we are proud to work alongside Home-Start in strengthening our local community.

Harvest Festival Charity Collection 2025

Sarah Wightwick — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 11:35:21 +0000

Every autumn, the Seymour House family comes together to celebrate the spirit of harvest, a time to give, share, and support our community. This year, our annual Harvest Festival food collection once again supported our wonderful charity partner, Home-Start Essex, who provide vital help to families across our local area.

Our nurseries were filled with the wonderful sight of baskets, boxes, and bags overflowing with generous donations from our families and team. From cupboard staples to special treats, every item was given with care and kindness, and together they will make a real difference to families who need a helping hand.

We are truly touched by the incredible generosity shown across all our nurseries. Each donation, big or small, helps to spread warmth and comfort to others, and that is what our Seymour House community is all about.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who took part in this year’s collection. Your kindness continues to shine bright and reminds us what can be achieved when we come together to care for our community.

Annual Harvest Festival Charity Collection 2024

Sarah — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 17:43:13 +0000

In true harvest festival spirit, we organise a food collection each year especially for our charity partner, Home-Start Essex. The food that we collect is shared amongst the most in need families across Essex, helping to make mealtimes a little easier.

We were absolutely overwhelmed with all the donations that we received from our incredible team and families, so much so that we struggled to fit the entire collection into one photo!

Thank you so much to everyone who donated. We are forever grateful for your generosity and support. Your kindness will make a real difference to families in our community – thank you.

Our Charity Partnership With Home-Start Essex

Sarah Wightwick — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 19:54:00 +0000

We are delighted to announce our partnership with Home-Start Essex, a charity providing vital support to families in Mid, South and West Essex. Seymour House will be joining Nursery Kitchen to support the charity in a variety of ways in 2023, including sharing our expertise and knowledge of early years education and nutrition, volunteering, and fundraising.

Home-Start Essex helps give children the best possible start in life by supporting parents to grow in confidence, build their resilience and find ways to manage the challenges they are facing. They help families facing challenges as diverse as isolation, mental health, or physical health difficulties, recovering from the impact of domestic abuse, or when they are just finding parenting is a struggle.

Their professionally trained volunteers and caring staff give parents a helping hand through a range of services, including weekly home visits from volunteers, supportive family groups, school readiness programmes, and wellbeing support. Through over 150 volunteers, Home-Start Essex helped 1367 children to get the best start in life last year.

Seymour House will be working with Home-Start Essex to further develop their nursery/ school readiness programme. This will help to prepare young children and families for nursery/ school life, so that they have a smooth transition. Nursery Kitchen will be focusing on donating fresh and nutritious meals to families in-need, to relieve the pressures that can often come with feeding a family a healthy meal.

Together, Seymour House and Nursery Kitchen will help Home-Start Essex to develop and improve its services while ensuring that families continue to receive dedicated care and resources, that deliver so much value. We will keep you updated as this partnership progresses and invite our team, families and friends to support and donate where they can.

Learn more about Home-Start Essex, here: https://youtu.be/wAA1tfUJWAY