The first Family Christmas was in 2004. The idea was to help a family that would find Christmas difficult. Not knowing where to start, I reached out to my children's school and a local priest to help us find families to help.

It was important and always has been that the gifts were anonymous. No fanfare on the local paper's front page, just a gift to let these families know that somebody cared, somebody who didn't want anything in return, a gift of kindness, and maybe the real gift was hope.

It would have always been a secret; however, I was invited to a Christmas assembly to meet the families from afar. I did not want it to be about me, so I thought of excuses not to go, but I did not want to be rude by not turning up, so I went.

I am glad I did because what happened changed everything. I met the children, saw the parents, and felt the school's love and the environment created for these children by the Head Mistress, who was lovely, an absolute angel on earth.

One of the children (5-year-old) started asking questions about the boxes under the Christmas tree in the assembly hall. Back in my house, there were many presents under our tree, so I found it difficult that a 5-year-old boy had never seen anything like this before.

The Mum of the other family we were helping came into the school. She was 31, had learning difficulties, was bullied in her neighbourhood and had nothing, no carpets in the house. Still, it was obvious how much she loved her son and was the perfect family Mum to help.

She thought she was coming to school to be told off. When given the gifts, she admitted to the only lady she trusted that it was the first gift she had ever received. Think about that for a minute! No birthday presents, Christmas, Easter, nothing. I couldn't believe it. Life has not always been kind like many of us, but it has never been like this.

When I left I phoned my wife Julie, I told her we had done something wonderful, but it couldn't be our secret. We would always carry on helping, but we would only ever be able to help so many families. The problem was more significant than that; it was overwhelming and it was on our doorstep

We needed to find people just like us, like you, who want to do something and may need help figuring out where to start. Still, if we found the families for them and gave a snapshot of their circumstances, we could make a difference to many more families. And maybe that gift of hope would change the direction of some of these families' lives forever.

The reason for sharing this story is that there will always be a need to help families, neighbours, and people on their own. Some of these families will do the same someday for somebody in need because you turned up in their moment of need, which changed everything.

Whilst we can't change the world, we can change our world through simple acts of kindness.

Your gifts for these families are more than presents to open at Christmas. They are gifts of grace that there are people like you who want to do something, not for any reason other than knowing in your heart it was the right thing to do.

Because you did something, you will help make Christmas for these families memorable. So when you have a quiet moment on Christmas day, please give yourself a gift that I hope humbles your heart, knowing you have done something wonderful!!!!

On a personal note and on behalf of all the families and older people, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping to make a difference to these families at this special time of year.

From my family to yours, we wish you and your loved ones a magical Christmas and all the best for the New Year. x