Operation Community Hamper (OCH) will be running their annual Christmas collections at Bristol Rovers and Bristol City next month and are seeking donations from both fanbases after outstanding support last year.
OCH will first be at the Mem next Saturday (December 7) ahead of the Bolton Wanderers match and will be at Ashton Gate the following week (December 14) ahead of City’s match with QPR with a ‘pimped up’ First Bus with the OCH logo taking donations. There will also be a bucket collection the following day for City Women’s home game against Durham.
The charity was set up in 2020 by Gashead Charlotte Churchill in order to help vulnerable families during the Covid-19 pandemic. In its first two years, OCH put together 19 and 47 hampers respectively.
It then expanded significantly in 2022 when Rovers and Gloucestershire County Cricket Club got involved with the Mem being used as a space to create an end total of 340 hampers.
Last year was OCH’s biggest year yet with 649 hampers made with City and the Bristol Pitbulls also getting involved as the cost of living crisis took its toll on local communities.
Now a recognised charity, OCH operates all year round having changed its name from Operation Christmas Hamper to Operation Community Hamper earlier this year. However, the festive season is still very much a major operation with as much generosity from the local community as possible needed.
This year, OCH and their huge team of volunteers are targeting 1,000 hampers with the distribution catchment spread across Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath and beyond and therefore need the contributions of fans of all teams, especially Gasheads.
Vulnerable families are having to make the choice between eating and heating and can barely afford things to wash their clothes with or afford items as vital as baby milk.
Fans are therefore invited to donate food, drinks and hygiene products as well as gifts with particular emphasis on food ahead of the festive season.
Items such as biscuits, mince pies, chocolate, Christmas pudding, tea and coffee are all examples of the types of things that go into these hampers with the plan this year to also include blankets. Cash and card machine donations will also be accepted.
OCH received an outstanding amount of support from Gasheads last year and are hoping for the same level of support once again.
There will also be a donation point at GCC’s Seat Unique Stadium running from Monday, December 9 until Thursday, December 12.