Daisy White, owner of Little Favours in Abbey Wood, has launched two fundraisers – a GoFundMe to raise funds to create Christmas hampers and an Amazon wishlist for a Christmas hospital toy drive this year.
Daisy first began her Christmas hamper project back in 2023, wanting to do a “good deed” for someone in the local community.
The 29-year-old explained: “I just went and bought all the stuff for a Christmas dinner… literally everything you ever needed, and I just put on my social media that there was a Christmas roast dinner box here if anyone wants it, no questions asked, confidential.”
After receiving an “influx” of messages from people, Daisy was inspired to create a further two before expanding the project the following year.
“I didn’t realise how many people were struggling just to have a roast dinner” Daisy said.
In 2024, Daisy launched a JustGiving page for the project, raising over £1,500 along with donations from local businesses, making 36 Christmas hampers for people in need, with hampers given to people nominated by Bexley Food Bank.
Daisy said: “We had donations coming from everywhere, I really didn’t expect to raise that much.
“It was just really eye-opening when we delivered them, because by looking at these people you’d never guess they needed help.”
In addition to the hamper drive, Daisy also launched a toy drive to raise money for toys for children in Queen Mary Hospital and Darent Valley Hospital.
“My mum has terminal cancer and so she spends a lot of time in hospital.” Daisy said.
“We were there near Christmas and saw a little girl playing and it just made me want to do something nice for the kids and their families spending Christmas in hospital.”
Daisy received 250 toy donations and delivered them to the children on Christmas Eve, with the help of her father dressed as Father Christmas and his elves.
Daisy said: “Seeing the children’s faces when Santa walked in with presents, I can’t even put into words how magical it was.
“We wanted every child there to feel included, because Christmas is Christmas — no child should feel left out.”
But for Daisy, the project also gave her a real sense of “strong community spirit”, with over 60 people turning up to a wrapping night to wrap and pack Christmas hampers and toys.
Daisy said: “I think all in all we had about 60 people come down, and the majority I didn’t even know — they’d just seen the posts on Facebook and Instagram.
“We had mulled wine, mince pies, Christmas music, it was such a wholesome evening.
“I looked around and thought, wow, all these people are here because I created this.”
Daisy launched her fundraiser earlier this month in a bid to “start early”, with £380 raised of her £2,000 goal so far, along with an Amazon toy list for people to donate to her toy drive.
Daisy said: “No donation is too big or small. Even £5 can give a child in hospital a present or someone a Christmas hamper.
“For me, £5 is just a coffee and a croissant — but for them, it’s Christmas.
“It fills you up with pride when you realise the smallest act can change someone’s Christmas.”
