Oldham Job Center Transforms into Christmas Toy Warehouse for Hospitalized Children

A second-floor job center at Spindles shopping center has shed its usual business attire for tinsel and toys as staff collect donations for sick children spending Christmas at Royal Oldham Hospital. Upturn, a social enterprise that helps long-term unemployed people find work, has converted their office space into a toy collection hub, filling supermarket trolleys with unwrapped gifts for the hospital’s youngest patients.

“This small act of kindness will mean so much to the children in need,” said Maria Williams, HR Director for Upturn. “These toys will light up their smiles and help ease their pain. Let’s all come together to make a difference and spread joy.”

The campaign addresses a sobering reality: an estimated 13,000 children under 16 will visit emergency departments this Christmas, joining countless others already receiving long-term hospital care. Dr Anita Sharma, a medic who works with Upturn, described treating sick children during the holidays as “heartrending” for both medical staff and families. “Spending this joyous time watching their loved ones suffer is so difficult and then there is concern about their other children, worried and sad when others are so happy,” she explained. “What gets them through? The little acts of kindness like this one.”

The toy drive, organized through North Care Charity, runs through Thursday, December 19. Donors can bring new, unwrapped toys to Unit 50 at Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre on George Street. Muzahid Khan DL, author of “The Gift of Giving” and campaign supporter, noted that “the cost-of-living crisis may make it difficult for us to think beyond our own four walls, but I can assure you that would make any gift even more appreciated by those who receive.”

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