A community group across Salford will be distributing nearly 1000 Easter Eggs across Salford, aiming to give back to those in need.
The community appeal was led by Jon Mastin, 55, who aimed to give back to the community this Easter, following on previous fundraisers.
Jon, who works at the Bridgewater Boxing Gym, is leading the direction of the donations around Salford.
The appeal was hosted between 12pm until 2pm and saw the Easter Eggs distributed across Salford through a variety of community groups.
The appeal saw the group giveaway nearly 1000 Easter Eggs around the community from Bridgewater Security Offices.
John said: “I have been involved in Bridgewater Boxing Gym for 20 years, and through the gym I have been able to get close to the family that run Bridgewater Security.
“We got our heads together, after a white collar charity boxing show when I fought on it – and I did it to raise money for my friend, and two brothers from the Mullen family who sadly lost their lives to cancer.
“So cancer was a big thing for us to raise money for, but we had some money left over – myself and John Mullen had a sit down one day and agreed to do something for families in Salford.”
And following on from the loss in his life, he has turned the fundraisers towards the community, which has proven to be a great success.
He continued: “We got our first event together for Christmas – and we were able to pull resources together and give away toys and selection boxes from the community.
“We had such positive reactions using local businesses, as well as community groups.
“Our success proved to be doing well, as Bez turned up to the last Easter one and that was able to get some momentum going.”
Jon added: “But it isn’t just the Easter Eggs they need, they need food, sanitary packs, and kitchen equipment.
“We have wanted to give them something, and that is what we are trying to do with our events – and build those connections to support us.”
And the idea for the fundraiser came from a passion for giving back to those in need, as he added: “We wanted to sort out the issue that children in the community won’t receive presents or eggs, we want to give back to them.
“As we have grown the community has continued to respond and help us out. We have got to know between 20 to 25 charities, and we have been able to support them – we want to help everyone.”
And with a strong community spirit he believes that it should be the approach from all across Salford, he continued: “I know I can’t help everybody, but if I could help families and change their lives through a tough time… that’s what it is all about.
“All my life I have been raised in Salford, it is the Salford mantra: treat people how you would want to be treated.
“Everyone who supports us with this is like a family, we want to help as many people in this family.”
And although he has been giving his time and energy to the local community, Jon believes that he can still do more.
Jon continued: “We have to give back – we have to help people in the community and we want to build kids’ confidence. It isn’t just about what we are doing tomorrow, we are looking at the bigger picture.”
He added: “I don’t have to push people to help us join in with what we are doing, because we believe in what we want to do.
“And there are so many good people who are doing their little bit to help the community and make it a better place to be.”
“And we are talking to bigger names, and we want to get high up and important people involved in the project because this is real and this is the Salford we need to show respect to.”
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