You can help us give children a great Christmas
It’s the start of our annual toy appeal
It’s that time of year again when we ask our generous readers to help those in our community facing tougher times than most this Christmas.
The Stirling Observer Give A Gift Appeal has been running since 2008, receiving and distributing donations of toys and gifts for sick, disabled, needy and disadvantaged children and young people at Christmas.
Collected at our own offices in Upper Craigs and with the generous support of a host of dropoff points across the area, the gifts are distributed via a wide range of charities, large and small, with the aim of ensuring no local child goes without on Christmas morning.
Among the charities and good causes which help to distribute the gifts are Stirling Young Carers, HomeStart Stirling, PLUS, Cornton Vale and Glenochil Family Hubs, Stirling Women’s Aid, Stirling Council social services, along with a number of others.
Last year, the appeal added more causes to the list including Forth Valley Royal Hospital’s children’s ward. Stirling Down’s Syndrome Playgroup and the children’s bereavement service at Strathcarron Hospice.
The appeal also aims to respond to any one-off approaches from organisations which deal with children or young people whom they feel may be facing a difficult festive season.
It also exists to ease the pressure many of the charities face over the festive season and allow them to put resources they may otherwise have had to use for gifts into their other areas of good work.
Observer reporter Kaiya Marjoribanks said: “The appeal is quite an undertaking for us but over the years has become something we know is much appreciated by the charities. As the scale of the appeal has grown it would have been easy to forget just what it means.
“But some of the feedback we have had from the charities has been extremely humbling.
“What we hope to achieve each year with Give A Gift is to help these amazing charities to continue with their great work without the added worry of how they are going to be able to ensure Santa visits these youngsters.
“Life is hard enough for many families, but there can be little more gut-wrenching than dreading Christmas because you know your children may have nothing from Santa on Christmas morning because you are struggling to even feed or clothe them, or because your health restricts what you can do for them.
“Some of the children simply find themselves the innocent victims of their family circumstances or their environment and only have these charities and organisations to depend on.
“For others the gifts are a way of letting them know they are not alone and that other people do care about their struggles and appreciate their problems.”
“Each year we receive more donations than the previous year, however the demand has also grown and we are very much starting from scratch this Christmas and need people to dig deeper than ever before so we can provide as much as possible for the charities, and more importantly the children they support.”
If you would like to organise a collection of gifts for the appeal via your business, workplace, school or group, would like to be one of our official drop off points, or would simply like more information, please feel free to contact the Stirling Observer by phone on (01786) 451110 or 459417 or email: news@ stirlingobserver.co.uk or kaiya. marjoribanks@reachplc.com.
Your support will be much appreciated and we will aim to photograph and feature as many collections as possible in the Observer over the festive season.