Duke of Edinburgh helps pack Christmas gifts for children in need

The Duke of Edinburgh has helped pack Christmas gifts for children in need at Cash for Kids NI’s “Mission Christmas” headquarters.

The Duke also spoke with the staff and volunteers, and he toured the facility. Mission Christmas aims to ensure that children living in poverty have presents on Christmas day.

One of the volunteers, Patrick Butler, said, “I have two young kids, and I couldn’t think of anything worse than my kids waking up on Christmas morning without a present.” He added, “When I pulled up this morning, I seen the police and I thought I was in the wrong place, and then I found out we were going to have a very special visitor… an absolute pleasure to have royalty visit us this morning.”

According to Lauran Baxter, the Cash for Kids NI Regional Manager, the Duke was “very engaged” during his visit. She added, “I think he was shocked by the scale of it and the fact that the numbers we were sharing today were just in Northern Ireland. We’re hoping to help somewhere in the region of 18,000 children this Christmas.”