A GROUP of compassionate people from East Cornwall and West Devon are calling on the generosity of local people to help them deliver an Easter to remember for children, families and people in need.

The group, Community Smiles, has launched its Easter appeal, calling for donations of Easter eggs to distribute to foodbanks, care homes and the children’s wards at Derriford Hospital to bring a bit of joy to people this Easter.

The Easter appeal follows the success of the group’s first appeal at Christmas where they were part of a bigger group across the South West collecting all sorts of donations for homeless people.

Clare Max, Community Smiles group member, said: ‘There is just a small group of us. It followed on from the Christmas appeal for the homeless. We had an amazing response from the public and were able to donate to four local foodbanks, two local care homes in Callington and a dog rescue centre. We were also able to provide four car loads of goods to a homeless shelter in Devonport. My house for three weeks looked like a jumble sale!

‘With the Christmas appeal we found that there just wasn’t enough homelessness in the area for there to be such a big appeal, so we have changed our remit a bit.’

‘This time we are looking again to support our local foodbanks — Callington, Tavistock, Saltash and Launceston — and Derriford’s children’s wards.

‘We’re hoping to get enough Easter eggs to give to parents and siblings as well. We would also like to be able to give to our local care homes — you’re never too old for an Easter egg!’

The Egg Appeal will be running for the whole of February and collection points are located at Inspired By Nature, Pilgrims Arcade, Callington, Ickle Cloud in Paddons Row, Tavistock, Maitlands Estate Agents in Fore Street, Saltash and Smiley Happy People in Launceston.

‘These businesses have come forward to support us and act as collection points so people can drop the eggs off there,’ said Clare. ‘We also had a courier company that has offered to do collections and delivery of the eggs for free, which is brilliant.

‘We are just asking for people to donate an Easter egg. It doesn’t have to be a flash one, it could just be a bag of mini eggs or a 99p egg. An Easter egg is within most people’s budgets. Everything that is donated will be gratefully received. Maybe there are businesses that want to do a work place collection or a business that wants to buy a load of eggs for us, we would really appreciate it.’

For more information about both the Easter egg appeal and the Christmas appeal, or for the opening times of the collection points, visit the Community Smiles Facebook Page or send an e-mail to [email protected]