The disaster relief charity has announced that it will hold the sale of surplus and unwanted Christmas presents on 19 January and is appealing for people to give generously.
Presents can be dropped off at all 12 parish or public halls and Communicare when they reopen after Christmas. In previous years, Islanders have rallied to the call for help and given a huge range of gifts from chocolates, toiletries and perfumes to toys, DVDs, clothes, books, stationery and a host of other items.
Both in January this year and in 2011, the popular event raised between £3,000 and £4,000. That cash has helped Jersey Side by Side reach its target of raising more than £30,000 for its appeal to help people in Haiti rebuild their lives after the country was devastated by a huge earthquake in January 2010.
It has been estimated by the Haitian government that the quake, which measured seven on Richter Scale, killed an estimated 316,000 people, left 300,000 injured and 1,000,000 homeless.
Jersey Side by Side is working with UK-based charity ActionAid to spend the money on 12 grinding mills which will enable communities to produce food goods to store and sell as they rebuild their lives.
Jean Le Maistre, the chairman of Jersey Side by Side, said: ‘For both of the past two Big Gift Sales, we have been given lots of toiletries, games, chocolates and a whole range of other gifts. We would welcome any of these presents and any others besides.’
He added: ‘Since the charity organised for thousands of Islanders to stand shoulder to shoulder to spell out the words ‘Side by Side’ on St Ouen’s Beach in January 2005 following the Boxing Day Asian Tsunami, we have helped to fund relief projects around the world.
‘For example, we raised £80,000 to pay for the building of a girls’ school in MeraBakot, a region of Pakistan devastated by earthquake in 2005, and following the floods which devastated Madeira, we raised £100,000 to build a home for the elderly.
‘It is an unfortunate truth that no year goes by without communities around the world being struck by natural disasters, often in some of the poorest countries. Jersey Side by Side needs to keep on raising money to be able to respond effectively to these terrible events and I hope Islanders will once again support us at the 2013 Big Gift Sale.’
Anyone with gifts to donate can drop them at parish halls. Mr Le Maistre said that people should check with parish halls to see whether they are open between Christmas and New Year. All parish halls will be open as usual from 2 January. St Martin’s Public Hall will reopen on 3 January.
The last day to drop off surplus gifts will be Friday 11 January.
