Employees at a Huddersfield science company helped pack and wrap hundreds of festive boxes destined for young cancer patients spending Christmas Day in hospital.
Staff at Lubrizol, which has a plant on Leeds Road, got into teams over a ten-hour stretch dedicated to packing and wrapping boxes with Christmas treats on behalf of the Huddersfield-based Project Youth Cancer charity.
The charity supports teenagers and young people aged 13-24 with cancer and at Christmas time delivers festive gift boxes to people in this age group who will be spending Christmas in hospital undergoing harsh and invasive treatments for their cancer.
Project Youth Cancer delivers to 46 hospitals in UK and Ireland and has this year seen a rise in need with nearly 600 boxes required. As well as helping wrap the boxes, Lubrizol donates hot chocolate sachets to put inside each one.
Then Lubrizol teams spent the day making up the boxes and wrapping them, so they can be delivered to put a smile on the face of a young person being treated for cancer this Christmas.
Sinead Quinn, toll manufacturing and intracompany planner for Lubrizol, was one of the members of staff who gave her time to wrap boxes for Project Youth Cancer.
She said: “It was great fun. We volunteer for this charity most years. It’s good to know we’ll be doing something nice for a young cancer patient stuck in hospital on Christmas Day.
“We wrapped 500 boxes and on my shift we did about 125. Some people in the really science-based job roles got quite technical with the wrapping!
“We had Christmas music on and there were refreshments available. It was a nice thing to do, especially to work with people you don’t normally spend time with in your normal job role.”
Formerly known as the Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust, Project Youth Cancer has been providing support to young people going through cancer, as well as friends and family, for the past 27 years. It also funds research into cancers specifically affecting young people.
The charity has been running its Christmas appeal for 17 years, which ensures teen and young adult cancer patients spending their Christmas Day in hospital will receive a special gift.
Pam Thornes from Project Youth Cancer said: “Project Youth Cancer is a small charity working nationally. This year the number of young people in hospital has increased and we have need of nearly 600 gift boxes and we are delighted when staff at Lubrizol are willing to come and help.
“The amazing Lubrizol volunteers work very hard, from filling the gift boxes through to wrapping the gifts for us and boxing them ready for the couriers.
“The volunteers are vital to making this much needed Project Christmas happen. We really are grateful to the staff at Lubrizol for their continued help and support.”
