A homeless man who appealed for Christmas presents for children staying in a Nottingham hostel says he’s gob-smacked by the response.
Lee Johnson, who lives at Hound Lodge in West Bridgford with his 11-year-old son, recorded a mobile phone video message asking for children’s presents and posted it on Facebook.
He says he was ‘majorly surprised’ and ‘gob-smacked’ when over 150 presents were handed in at the lodge.
Presents kept on coming
‘I thought we’d get a few selection boxes to put under the tree,’ says Lee, ‘but the presents just kept coming.’
There are so many of them, he’s donating many of them to another hostel in Nottingham.
Lee says, ‘I asked people to wrap the presents up and write who it’s suitable for – a boy or a girl and what age – and we got all sorts of presents, including Barbie stuff, a doll’s house and children’s pool table.
‘The doll’s house and pool table will be used by every child at Hound Lodge and there are individual presents too.’
Lee says the idea came to him when he realised the 15 children at Hound Lodge – aged up to 11 – didn’t have a tree or decorations.
Team effort
‘Then I thought what it would be like when they go back to school in the New Year and everyone asks what they got for Christmas and they’d have to say they didn’t get anything.’
Lee may have started the appeal but he says it’s a team effort and everyone at Hound Lodge has rallied round to make it a Christmas to remember for children in Nottingham who are living in temporary accommodation.
