The charity Little Troopers has sent 200 Christmas boxes to military children in North Yorkshire who have parents serving overseas with the Armed Forces this Christmas.
The initiative is part of the charity’s Christmas Smiles campaign, which recognises that December is often the hardest time of year for children to be separated from their serving parent.
Working alongside welfare teams and community teams from both the Army and RAF, including the Royal Lancers, RAF Leeming and the Royal Military Police, the Little Troopers boxes include resources and activities to help children cope with parental separation, as well as treats and stocking fillers to raise a smile.
Louise Souter, community support assistant at RAF Leeming said: “The children and their families on our Deployment Support were thrilled to receive the Little Troopers Christmas Smiles boxes.
“Many of the parent’s commented on the positive affirmations– such a lovely idea, especially for this time of the year.”
Little Troopers is a national charity dedicated to supporting service children and has sent out 2,500 Christmas Smiles boxes across the country this year.
Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers, said: “Christmas Smiles is such an important annual campaign for our charity. Being separated from your parent at Christmas is hard and we want to get our resources to as many children as possible and help them to feel recognised and supported, as well as spreading some Christmas smiles.
“A big thank you to military personnel at Catterick for helping us to get the boxes to your local families in North Yorkshire. We hope they make a real difference to your families.”
The Little Troopers Christmas Smiles boxes have been made possible thanks to funding from BAE Systems and VIVO Defence Services.
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