Manchester Airport: staff donate £10,000 worth of presents for neighbouring communities

Manchester Airport staff have donated more than £10,000 worth of gifts to local people, to be distributed by more than a dozen community centres, food banks, care homes, and homeless accommodation across the region.

The airport’s annual ‘Giftmas’ appeal, which aims to reach children and vulnerable adults who would otherwise not wake up to a present on Christmas morning, triggered a huge response with around 1,000 gifts gathered by airport colleagues.

The donated gifts included books, jigsaws, toys, socks, gloves, colouring sets, and school supplies. The airport then topped this up with more than 1,500 additional gifts, for a total of 2,500 Christmas presents.

Managing Director Chris Woodroofe and other members of the airport’s senior leadership were among the airport staff who volunteered their time to wrap the presents, which have since been distributed to around a dozen community centres, care homes, family charities, and food banks over the past week.

Manchester City Council Deputy Leader, Cllr Joanna Midgley, said: “Thanks to the generosity of Manchester Airport staff, Christmas will be a little bit brighter for people experiencing homelessness in Wythenshawe who we are supporting to get back on their feet. Along with their other donations to local care homes, it reflects what a good neighbour the airport is.”

Head of Community Engagement for Manchester Airport, Robert Pattison, added: “We’re very proud of the role we play in making life a bit easier for disadvantaged or vulnerable people in our neighbouring communities, and that is never truer than at this time of year. Sharing a bit of festive joy is not just fantastic for those communities, but it’s also really rewarding for colleagues – we love it when they get involved in our campaigns and we were blown away by the generosity they showed in gathering thousands of items for our Giftmas campaign this year.”

The airport’s Community Engagement team organised the collection and distribution of the gifts and has also been involved in a number of other projects to support those living close to the airport in 2025. These have included an ‘Autumn Leaves’ lunch for people aged over 65 in the Woodhouse Park area, in an effort to combat social isolation in older age groups, and more than £100,000 worth of donations made to dozens of good causes across Greater Manchester and Cheshire by the airport’s Community Trust Fund.