Tonnes of help for those in need
A fantastic amount of food was amassed at a festive collection drive.
The Boys’ Brigade in Dunblane organised their traditional Christmas collection for Start-Up Stirling’s crisis foodbank and amassed over two tonnes of items to help the neediest family situations across the area.
More than 50 BB boys and leaders were on hand at St Blane’s Hall in Dunblane on December 22, and donations were non-stop from beginning to end as local people dropped off food, drink, toiletries and cleaning supplies over a three-hour period to help keep the shelves stocked at Start-Up’s warehouse right into the new year.
The enthusiastic youngsters helped by opening donations, labelling items, sorting into storage containers - and even running to local businesses in the High Street to ask for extra boxes and containers when donations were so plentiful, capacity ran out. All the goods were transported to Start-Up Stirling’s foodbank and weighed, with news coming through on the following day that over 2,000kg of goods had been donated.
James Forrest, age 14, has been helping at the annual event for the last four years. He said: “At BB, we have been learning about vulnerable groups in our community, and it is nice to do something practical and really useful for people, especially at Christmas, although we collect donations every month at BB, too.”
BB captain Paul Christmas said: “It was fantastic to again see such great support from Dunblane and surrounding areas for this. We love the fact that the event has become a true tradition now and we are proud to partner with Start-Up Stirling regularly.”