Thetford Hamper Appeal gives to more people this Christmas after £1,000 boost

A hamper appeal which saw a world marathon list runner join forces with a motovlogger and social media influencer was given a £1,000 donation boost to bring more cheer to people in and around Thetford.

Jimmy Boyce, otherwise known as motojimm online with more than 650,000 followers, and Melanie Furness who has finished more than 300 marathons and raised around £70,000 for charities, came together for the fourth Thetford Hamper Appeal to hand them out to nominated people in need.

With Jimmy raising more than £450 from calling on his community to help and Mel getting lots of donations from community groups and individuals, the appeal was then boosted by Attleborough-based company 7Days Performance, bringing £1,000 worth of toys and food items to help.

Kile Copsey, from the business, said: “We work closely with Jim and when we saw his post for the appeal we really wanted to jump on and give back to our community.

“So we went out and spent £1,000 on the toys and food items to assist Mel and Jim in helping as many families over Christmas as they could.

“It is a hard time of the year for some and though we give away cars, motorbikes and money through our business to be able to give back in this way is really important to us.”

Mel, who started the hamper appeal, was introduced to Jimmy through the Bury Free Press this year said she was just overwhelmed by the amount of support and donations for the hampers.

She added: “We normally deliver around 100 support hampers to the community, but with the addition of toys this year, we have been able to reach out to more families than ever before and I just want to thank everyone so much for their help.

“This team up with Jimmy has been great as he has been just as passionate as me about the appeal – though it is demanding to put together, it is one of my Christmas highlights because of the joy it brings.”

Jimmy said: “Christmas for me is all about happiness and being with family and friends, so knowing we have put smiles on as many faces as we could is amazing for us all and I feel what everyone has raised together is great for the community.”

Not only were the Christmas hampers given out, sacks of toys were also passed to the likes of the town’s Pine Close Community, the Rainbow Ward of West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds as well as blankets and toys to St Nicholas Hospice Care.