An online campaign has allowed the public to buy chocolate bars along with personalised messages for NHS and frontline workers.
The ‘NHS Chocolate Bar Campaign’ was set started by Jessica Edwards and her daughter, Tamiyah, from Mitcham, after being inspired to do their bit to help the NHS after seeing a number of news reports about the realities of working in hospitals during the pandemic.
Edwards used her online shop, TrufflesNTreatz, to create “Thank You Chocolate Bars” for staff, which can be bought by the public and sent onto workers in hospitals, including Epsom and St. Helier Hospital, and Croydon University Hospital.
She said: “We wanted people to be able to show their appreciation on a personal level, even an opportunity to say in their own words what they are personally thankful for.”
Edwards described how a recent news report struck a chord with her daughter, after they saw NHS workers having to be separated from their children for long periods of time and asked if they could send hospital workers at St. George’s, Tooting, a chocolate bar to say thank you.
It was this little act of kindness that saw Edwards reaching out to local community groups on Facebook, to see if others would be interested in sending personalised messages from their families to NHS staff.
She said: “We didn’t want the chocolate bars to have a generic message.
“We wanted the message to feel like it was for them specifically.”
The current lockdown restrictions also allowed Edwards and Tamiyah to spend more time together, whilst doing good in the process.
Edwards hopes to spread the word about her campaign, with the possibility of reaching out to NHS hospitals and medical centres outside of London, so the heart-felt words of the public can get to them.
She added: “It’s about a sense of community and coming together at this time because everybody wants to give thanks.
“Some people have the ability to go and donate, but some people may not know how to show appreciation.”
She credited her local shops for having made a real effort to support, with chocolate bars donations for the campaign.
To find out more about the NHS Chocolate Bar Campaign, visit www.trufflesntreatz.com
Featured image credit: Jessica Edwards
