The Prince of Wales visits Love Your Neighbour

On December 9th, The Prince of Wales visited HTB, where he met with volunteers assembling and delivering Bags of Kindness as part of Love Christmas.  

During his visit, he donated provisions to be distributed to the Dalgarno Way Estate in West London.  The Highgrove-branded material bags contained Duchy-branded food such as chocolate, crackers, biscuits, mince pies and cupboard staples including lentils and beans. The bags also included a range of food, clothing, necessities, and gifts, with the goal of both helping each recipient materially and enabling them to feel loved and cared for this Christmas.

His Royal Highness also attended a short service, led by Nicky Gumbel, which included hearing testimonies from persecuted Christians who previously lived in Iran. He also met representatives from Love Your Neighbour, Love Christmas, CRT, St Mellitus College and the Peter Stream.

Prince Charles also spent time with Love Your Neighbour volunteer, Jose Rad who is originally from Iran and moved to the UK five years ago. Jose dedicates his one day off a week to HTB’s Shelter and recently to the Afghan’s refugees, cutting hair for free alongside his job at the barber shop.

The prince asked him: ‘What do you do?’ and Jose responded: ‘I’m a barber, I can cut your hair if you like,’ to which Charles laughed and touched the back of his neck. Jose later said: ‘I told him about my work, where I’ve been cutting the hair of homeless people and Afghan refugees in my spare time. It was lovely (meeting Charles), I loved it. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’m so happy.’

This year, Love Christmas has mobilised over 17,000 volunteers partner with churches and organisations who have signed up to give, pack and deliver Bags of Kindness to local neighbours. Last year, Love Christmas reached more than 775,000 people across the UK. This year, we are aiming to reach over a million.