Trustco Gives Back At Christmas

Ho ho ho! It’s that time of the year again. For some, Christmas can be “the most wonderful time of the year”, but for others it can be difficult, upsetting and even sad.

At Trustco, we have a tradition; we try and connect the festive cheer and good will to those who are less fortunate – we give back in the best way we know how – locally!

Historically, we’ve given to local charities each Christmas, but this year we’ve gone a step further. We have spread the joy, the resources, and the time and energy to more good causes in the local area.

So what have we been up to this year?

Tim Cripps Returns As Santa

Our Managing Director Tim Cripps returned, by popular demand, as Santa Clause – for two local schools. Two years ago, Tim raced to the rescue when Hangleton Primary School’s plans for a scheduled Santa visit fell through. Tim – clad in the iconic red suit – saved the day by becoming Santa.

This year he’s excelled himself by appearing as Santa not once, but twice! Double the joy, double the festive fun.

Buying Gifts for the Brighton Refuge.

For people under threat of domestic abuse, Christmas is not a safe space. Organisations such as Stonewater offer people somewhere safe to live when they need to leave an abusive domestic environment.

Stonewater’s Brighton Refuge is a safe space providing accommodation and support for women and their children who are fleeing domestic abuse. Stonewater is committed to providing a safe, nurturing environment, making sure each resident has access to the support and advice they need.

Over the last year, Brighton Refuge has supported 39 women and 40 children (01/04/2024-31/03/2025).

This year, Trustco have purchased Christmas gifts and life essentials for the women and children at Stonewater’s Brighton Refuge. From pillows, eye masks, and toothbrushes, through to games, books, and crafty activities.

We use our donations from the wish list all year round! Women and children who are fleeing domestic abuse, modern slavery, and honour-based abuse are usually only able to arrive to us with a couple of bags. The donations we receive go towards Christmas and birthday presents, but also ensure we can set up all the new arrivals with essentials like warm bedding, toiletries, treats and games for the kids.

Money is often really tight for people when they first arrive, as they usually have experienced some form of economic abuse and they can’t afford to repurchase items they have had to leave behind.

Wish list purchases from individuals and businesses like Trustco help us to support people year-round.

Kiera – Domestic Abuse Support Worker – Stonewater Brighton

If you would like to take part in this year’s wish list giving, you can find the Amazon wish list here – remember to select the Stonewater Brighton as the delivery location.

The Secret Santa Sacrifice

Secret Santa activities are very popular in offices up and down the country, and Trustco staff normally take part in buying each other gifts. But we all know that often, these little gifts are single-use or ultimately end up in charity shops or (worse) landfill.

This year, the Trustco office staff decided they would sacrifice their secret Santa and instead buy gifts for those less fortunate – and yes they really did decide this themselves and were not pressured for positive PR!

So instead of Secret Santa, this year the Trustco office staff popped down to Brighton’s Churchill Square shopping centre and took part in their Christmas “Giving Tree” event. By grabbing a tag from the tree and making a purchase in one of the centre’s shops, their gifts will be delivered in time for Christmas to local children via Sussex’s Rockinghorse Children’s Charity.

Trustco Fund Christmas Lunches for our local School Partner

Back in the summer, Trustco announced our ongoing partnership with Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA) to Support Student Opportunity and Wellbeing.

When we reached out and discussed how we could help them at Christmas, we learned that many children at the school cannot afford to pay for the school-wide Christmas lunch. That can make young people feel isolated and issues with money can cause feelings of shame.

To combat this, BACA self-fund these lunches for all students, so to help support them, Trustco pledged funds towards purchasing the time, ingredients, and care needed for the annual Christmas lunch event.

With our ring-fenced financial commitment to BACA, we had a little bit left in the money box. So we committed to part-fund a student trip to Jamie’s Farm in the new year.

Supporting the school in the best ways we can is a future commitment for Trustco in 2026 and beyond. Enabling better education outcomes and improved wellbeing is something we are wholly invested in.

A Christmas message from Trustco.

Whether you celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, a time to get together with friends and family, or just a time to rest after a busy year. Trustco would like to send our best wishes to our team members, customers, contractors, partners and readers of our online content.

Whoever you are and however you got to the point of reading this sentence, may Christmas be whatever you need it to be this year.

Here is to a positive and prosperous new year in 2026!

Take care. Team Trustco