A mum branded Nestle ‘Scrooges’ for ‘refusing’ to donate selection boxes to a special needs Christmas party – as they’re ‘short on chocolate’.

Katie Townsend has hosted SEN-friendly events, designed for children, teens, and adults with additional needs, at a venue in Halifax, West Yorkshire, for the last two years.

The 42-year-old said the event is an inclusive Christmas party nightclub experience for teens and adults with learning difficulties and disabilities to dance, sing and practice life skills.

The mum-of-three usually collects donations including sweets and chocolates from local companies and individuals to give to attendees.

But this year, the childminder decided to contact confectionary giant Nestle, who operate a site in Halifax that produces the world-famous chocolates Quality Street.

Katie said she emailed the Nestle factory in October requesting a donation of 200 selection boxes, before sending a follow-up a month later.

But when the manufacturer replied at the end of November, she claims they said they’d be unable to donate anything to the event due to being ‘short on confectionery’.

Stunned Katie thought it was ‘silly and ironic’ that her town’s chocolate factory had run out of chocolate, blasting their response as ‘disappointing’.

In response to a picture of Michael Caine in the 1992 hit The Muppet Christmas Carol as Scrooge, Katie replied ‘yes, and he now owns Nestle’.

Katie, who lives in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, said: “We trialled the event in Christmas 2023 and it was massive. It just snowballed from there.

“The young adults buy a ticket for £8 and I ask if anybody can donate a selection box to give people as they’re leaving.

“It’s always the same people that donate so I thought I would speak to Nestlé.”

After reaching out to Nestle via phone and email, Katie said the company rejected her request for donations due to confectionary shortages.

The email reads: ‘Unfortunately we are short on confectionery that we are able to donate at the moment, so I’m afraid we can’t offer you anything at the moment.’

Katie said: “[When I got their response] I was a bit taken aback.

“Obviously it is a big company and I know a lot of people will be asking, I get that. But there are so many small, local companies that are donating.

“I think it’s a little bit ironic that a chocolate factory doesn’t have enough chocolate.

“It’s the fact they said they don’t have enough, which was the most shocking thing. It’s just a little bit silly.

“I was disappointed by their response. I didn’t want to have to revert back to the same people donating. I wanted to give them a break.

“It’s a splash in the pond [for Nestle]. I’d love it if they did donate next year, I’m not sure if they will.”

A Nestlé spokesperson said: “We appreciate Katie contacting us with her generous offer to support a local event. At the time of her request, we had already allocated the majority of our available products for donations, and unfortunately, we were unable to fulfill additional requests due to limited stock.

“We understand this was disappointing and have offered to explore opportunities to support future initiatives with more notice. Nestlé has been supporting local communities wherever possible, and we value the efforts of individuals like Katie who makes a positive impact.”