Soldiers, students and volunteers have packed 2,500 special Christmas boxes for children who have a parent overseas with the UK Armed Forces this December.
Each box is packed with resources and activities to help children cope with parental separation as well as festive stocking fillers 'to raise a smile'.
Military personnel from across the country, from Oxfordshire, North Yorkshire, Wiltshire, Lincolnshire, and Somerset, travelled to Dorset to collect the boxes so they can be distributed to families before Christmas leave.
The campaign has been organised by the military children’s charity, Little Troopers - a national charity dedicated to supporting service children.
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Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers, said: “It has been a real team effort.
"Our community, both here in Dorset and across the UK Armed Forces, has pulled together to make something incredible happen that will make a real difference to military children across the country.
"These boxes are all about helping military children to feel recognised and supported.
"Christmas is a tough time to have a parent away from home and we want to bring Christmas Smiles to as many children as we can.”
Last year, 7,000 service personnel were deployed on military operations over Christmas and it’s expected that a similar number will be serving overseas this year.
As 72 per cent of service personnel have at least one child under 18, thousands of military children will be missing their parent on Christmas morning.
Louise, who is an Army veteran and lives in Dorset, brought together soldiers from Royal Armoured Corps Training Regiment, students from Bovington Academy and people from the local community, to pack the boxes, which took eight hours in total.
Sgt Mark Conway, Unit Welfare Officer for the Army Training Regiment in Grantham, who came to collect boxes, explained: “It took me 4.5 hours to come and collect boxes for our families but any bit of support like this does make a massive difference; you don’t feel so lonely, you don’t feel so isolated and you feel supported and valued.”
Evelyn Chilaka, is one of the BAE Systems’ volunteers who helped pack the boxes.
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She said: “When I was serving, I used to feel so guilty about missing out on festive activities when I was undertaking my military duties over Christmas.
"These boxes are not just great for the children who receive them but also for those parents who aren’t around to know that their little ones are being treated at what can be a really difficult time of year.
"It’s been lovely to help pack the boxes knowing they’ll make someone smile.”
The Little Troopers Christmas Smiles boxes have been made possible thanks to funding from BAE Systems and VIVO Defence Services.
Little Troopers has also organised lots of other activities as part of its Christmas Smiles campaign, including free cinema screenings at ODEON cinemas, a storytelling event with the Chelsea Pensioners, elf workshop and an online panto.
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