Real-life Santa spends £10,000 buying presents for underprivileged kids

Reese Fletcher made wooden Christmas trees to raise money for the gifts

A man has raised £10,000 to spend on presents for underprivileged children this Christmas, becoming a real-life Santa. Gardening and fencing firm boss Reese Fletcher and his team made 800 Christmas trees out of wood, which they sold to raise the cash to buy the gifts. They then spent £8,000 filling 22 trollies with goods in a toy shop and a further £2,000 on bikes for charities to give out to vulnerable kids on December 25. [caption id="attachment_308179" align="alignnone" width="914"] Reese Fletcher sold 800 'Christmas trees' to raise the money for the gifts (credit: SWNS)[/caption] Reese - who goes by the motto 'it's nice to be nice' - said he was inspired to help those in need after watching a video last year about families in need that "touched my heart." The 30-year-old said: “I have kids myself and I can’t imagine them going without gifts. "I was going to donate £50 and went outside and saw all this wood lying in my garden left over from my business. “I had the idea to make Christmas trees out of it and sell them for £10 each. “I made ten in ten minutes and ended up selling 260. This year it went mad." Reese said the response to his charitable initiative has been "amazing, we've had people driving for three hours to come to buy trees". [caption id="attachment_308180" align="alignnone" width="926"] Reese and his team filled 22 trollies with gifts and goodies for underprivileged children (credit: SWNS)[/caption] Reese's firm Fletcher’s Fencing, Decking and Garden Maintenance in Leeds sold more than 800 of the trees and with other donations raised £10,500. Reese added: “I got my lads to make the trees whenever we had a quiet day at work. "We know this is going to give hundreds of children a Christmas they might never have had.” Related links:

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