An organisation created to support struggling residents at Christmastime in and around Launceston has decided to extend its services to be all year round.  

Dymond Finish Christmas Angels, now known simply as Christmas Angels, is the brainchild of Chele Perrin. The organisation was conceived to support those in and around the Launceston area who were struggling at Christmas time.  

Last year, the angels helped ensure 37 families with a total of 85 children had an enjoyable Christmas, providing presents and food to make the festive period as magical as possible.  

However, following such success, Chele and her daughter, who also works on the project, have decided to extend their work, providing the service all year round.  

Speaking to the Post, Chele explained: “When my daughter was four years old, her dad passed away suddenly leaving me working three jobs, struggling financially and not being able to provide for my daughter like I should have been able to and there was no one to help me! 

“In the autumn of 2022 I woke up one morning and decided that I was going to help a family that was struggling. I reached out to families in Launceston to find a family to help. Soon, that single family turned into five. I reached out to locals for help to provide a Christmas for these families and the support that I received was amazing. I collected and wrapped Christmas presents, made up food parcels and in the week leading up to Christmas delivered these to the five families.   

“Without a doubt, my mind was made up that I was going to do it again for Christmas 2023 in the hope to be able to help even more families. Just like last year I created an Amazon wish list for people to buy items to donate and get them sent directly to me, but little did I know that what I was doing was going to blow up massively.  

“We managed to support 37 families with a total of 85 Children that desperately needed help. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the help of such generous residents of Launceston. My mind has been blown by the sheer generosity of donations that I have had. 

“I’ve had blankets, hot water bottles, tons of toys for children of all ages donated both through the wish list and in person by amazing individuals. I’ve had organisations such as The Park Cornwall fund raise to provide much needed nappies and toys. I had 50 bears donated by Charlie Bears and many donations from other local business such as Urgo, Terry Graves Electrical, Keith Hopper Electrical, The White Horse, Launceston Cycles and a huge donation of snacks from the Cash Family. We also had a huge donation from Bridge Church.   

“A donation that will stay in my mind forever was parent gifts that were donated in memory of two little boys that were sadly taken to soon, Bobby and Freddy.   

“Christmas Angels is solely run by myself and my daughter Chloe who is now 22 and worked so hard with me this Christmas overseeing the families.  

“When talking to the families this year it became clear to me that help was also needed throughout the year to help provide struggling families with a birthday gift for their child as the feeling of dread in the ability to provide can be horrendous which I myself know all too well. So, I made the decision to stay open all year round to help families and to receive donations of both new and preloved clothes and toys.”  

Despite only being a few weeks into the year, Chele says that 2024 has already gotten off to a brilliant start.  

She continued: “We have already made a great start to 2024 with donations coming in already which has been absolutely amazing, but we are going to need continued support all year around to be able to help the families that really do need it.” 

Christmas Angels can receive donations in person at their unit on the Pennygillam industrial estate (Unit 8 Douglas Business Park, Pennygillam Ind Estate, PL15 7FU), or via their Amazon wish list which can be found on their Facebook page.  

Chele added that no one should feel ashamed to get in touch and that the team’s support is only one message away.  

She said: “Christmas Angels is a 100 per cent non-profit organisation, and we are always just a message away 24/7 for anyone that finds themselves in such a hard position.  

It’s very sad to say that you never know what is around that corner and when you, yourself may be left in such an awful position. No one should ever feel ashamed to reach out.”