We have donated a sackful of toys this year to seasonal charity Project Santa, which is providing families and their children in Newcastle who are living on the poverty line, with gifts and food hampers this Christmas.

Together we recognise the difficulties some parents are facing this festive period, which will be particularly hard for those struggling to cope with rising costs while ensuring their children have a merry Christmas.

According to the ‘Big Issue’ magazine, two in five children in Newcastle are living in poverty (38%) – around 12 in every classroom. More widely across the North East, nearly 190,000 babies, children and young people are growing up in poverty (35%).

Amit Bahanda, a volunteer at Project Santa, who called in to our office to pick up the bag of goodies, said: “Every child deserves a happy Christmas and it’s heart breaking to think that some will go without a present this Christmas day.  Thanks to the support of local businesses like RWO and their kind generosity, we will be able to help lots more local children this year and ensure they have a present on Christmas day.”

 Emma Gibson, who organised the collection of toys on our behalf, said: “It’s great to see everyone in the company support this initiative and I have received some great feedback from our colleagues. Project Santa does an outstanding job every year and we are delighted to be helping local youngsters, who are a lot less fortunate than others to have a happier Christmas this year.”