Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Smiles at Christmas thanks to our appeal
Generosity of supporters shows festive spirit
Hundreds of happy faces will be beaming with delight across Monklands on Christmas morning — thanks to the amazing generosity of all those who supported this year’s Advertiser toy appeal.
A grand total of 1300 gifts were handed in at the Asda, Morrisons and Tesco collection points and are being distributed to deserving youngsters by volunteers from Airdrie and Coatbridge Round Table and children’s charity Spirit Aid.
It brings the overall number of Christmas presents donated in the four years since the appeal first began to an amazing 5700 items, ranging from toys and games to books and vouchers.
Staff at Home Bargains in Coatbridge were the latest to add their donations as the appeal closed for 2016, handing over a packed trolley-load of gifts after the generous workers chose to support the appeal by donating toys instead of buying gifts for one another in a traditional Secret Santa present swap.
Their donations added on to further fabulous contributions such as the 170 items collected by Airdrie fans at their children’s Christmas party, 60 from youngsters and families at Empire dance school in Airdrie and the many hundreds which filled trolley after trolley at the supermarket collection points thanks to generous staff and customers alike.
Round Table members — who this week also completed their popular Monklands sleigh tour — have been busy handing over piles of gifts to their partner good causes, namely Monklands women’s aid, the @home centre in Airdrie, the Moira Anderson Foundation, the Salvation Army and St Philip’s School.
Table representative Gordon Millar visited the @home centre, on Clark Street in Airdrie, to hand over the items to be distributed via the youth facility.
He said: “This is the best part of the toy appeal — when you see the faces of the recipients. Their expressions are priceless, just as ours were when we picked up all the gifts from the supermarkets.
“I just didn’t expect to see so many donations. It’s always a pleasant surprise when taking part in the toy appeal project.
“There’s unwavering support given by customers and staff at of our local supermarkets and it’s overwhelming that people act in the true spirit of Christmas, knowing that a child in Airdrie and Coatbridge will get a little something this Christmas and that they’re being thought of.
“We know the presents will be going to special youngsters in Monklands who are in our thoughts and prayers this Christmas.”
Table members had a special surprise when they took their sleigh to Tesco in Coatbridge and found the mountain of donations organised into a huge line of packed trollies, thanks to community champion Elizabeth Wilkie and with assistance from local Guides.
Group chairman Tony Murphy said: “There were all these trolleys full of toys being orchestrated into position by smartly turned-out Guides — it was like something from a Christmas movie!
Fellow Table member Norbert Grant added: “It was magical and was a wonderful gesture. The toy appeal and sleigh are truly whole community events, which bring shoppers, organisations
and businesses together for the benefit of the community.”
Gary McEwan, who is branch manager at Morrisons in Airdrie and has been involved with the toy appeal since it began in 2013, said: “It’s absolutely fantastic and grows bigger every year.
“It’s a great thing and there’s a fantastic sense of achievement for everyone in seeing the donation trollies fill up with all these wonderful donations.
“Every year, it becomes even more part of Christmas for the community in Airdrie and Coatbridge. It’s absolutely fantastic to be part of and people make a difference by giving kids a very welcome gift on Christmas morning and bringing a smile to their faces.”
Asda community champion Ann Binks was thrilled to see customers and staff place hundreds of items in the toy appeal trolley and added that the final week of the appeal was the busiest of all.
She told the Advertiser: “I’m delighted. Lots of lovely things have been donated and it really picked up momentum in the final couple of weeks.
“People are amazing in their generosity and have really come through. I think people like to give something at Christmas and to be part of something nice like this.
“All the customers and staff have really come through once again and been amazing, and Spirit Aid were delighted when they came in to collect everything.”
Tesco Coatbridge counterpart Elizabeth Wilkie agreed: “Spirit Aid were overwhelmed when they saw the amount collected; the toy appeal has been a great success once again and it was especially busy in the last week.
“We promoted the appeal in the staff room and have put in lots of things, like arts and crafts items plus gift sets for boys and the customers have been fantastic yet again — they never cease to amaze with their generosity and Christmas spirit.”
Iain Strefford and his fellow Spirit Aid volunteers will still be busy in the last few days before Christmas in distributing donated gifts, including through their partner organisations such as the Simon Community, churches, Syrian refugee community and others who contact them for support.
He said: “As usual, we’re astounded by people’s generosity. The demand for our services and help this year has been more than ever before.
“The donations to the toy appeal also allow us to divert our funds to other things like providing food parcels and clothing vouchers, and we’ll be going round this week getting all the items to where they need to go.
“Receiving these gifts makes a huge difference to a child — it’s not just getting a toy, but it means a lot more as it means that somebody cares.”
This makes a massive difference. It’s not just about toys for kids — it’s more than that. It means that someone cares Iain Strefford