KIND-HEARTED staff at one of the North East’s biggest recruitment agencies have been doing their bit to help underprivileged children this Christmas.

This year, instead of buying secret Santa gifts for one another, recruiters at Temp-Team have been collecting gifts for children in poverty-stricken parts of the world.

The company, which has branches in Newcastle, Newton Aycliffe in County Durham, Sunderland, Teesside and Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire, is supporting Operation Christmas Child – an initiative that encourages people to fill shoe boxes with toys, sweets, educational and hygiene items on the run up to Christmas.

The boxes are then distributed to some of the world’s poorest countries and handed out to underprivileged children.

Emma Crocher, of Temp-Team, said: “We thought this would be a great way of giving something back this Christmas and what’s especially worthwhile about this cause is that the shoe boxes go to several countries that need it most, not just one, and so hopefully it has a real difference to the lives of the children it supports.”

As well as Operation Christmas Child, Temp-Team has continued its ongoing support of Willowburn Hospice in Lanchester, County Durham, which cares for people with incurable illnesses.

Fundraising activities include summer and Christmas fairs, recycling initiatives and entering a team in the Great North Run.

For more information about Operation Christmas Child visit operationchristmaschild.org.uk