What is Secret Santa and why is it important?
Find out more about our Secret Santa appeal, and how your donation can help make Christmas magical for vulnerable children and families across the UK.
Secret Santa is our annual Christmas appeal, where supporters can make a donation, buy a virtual gift or purchase a Christmas eCard to help support vulnerable families across the UK.
Why?
Because for too many children, Christmas is anything but magical.
No stockings. No presents. No festive food - often no food at all.
Make a donation
Send a Christmas eCard
Treat your loved ones to a Christmas eCard that give back to charity.
4 million UK children now live in poverty.
At Action for Children, we're a vital lifeline for desperate families with nowhere to turn.
And we know that for a child, a Christmas present is about so much more than something to unwrap.
It’s knowing they deserve happiness, magic and love.
*This story is based on real examples of children we support.
Six-year-old Freya often fell asleep fully clothed on a mattress, trying to keep warm, only to wake up shivering.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, she told her mum, Jess*, that she only wanted one present from Santa - a toy farm.
Jess held back tears. No matter how many hours she worked, she couldn't afford it.
Thanks to supporters like you, we were able to provide Freya and her mum with supermarket vouchers, and the toy farm she desperately wanted.
But our support didn't stop at Christmas. We've since helped Freya settle into school by providing her with new uniform, a warm coat, and a bed to help her sleep better.
Last year, incredible people like you were driven by love to take action for children.
By supporting us, and being a Secret Santa, you helped us be there for 544,297 children, young people and families in the UK, through 303 services.
Having a warm house, enough food and coat for Freya really changed everything. Freya's herself again.
Jess, Freya's mum
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