Dig deep and help our Give a Gift Appeal

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas… not least because the annual Stirling Observer Give A Gift Appeal has now been launched.

The 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 offices in Upper Craigs and with the generous support of a host of drop-off 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 and Stirling Council social services, along with a number of others.

The appeal has added more causes to the extensive list including Forth Valley Royal Hospital’s Children’s Ward, Stirling Down’s Syndrome Playgroup and families supported by Strathcarron Hospice, including the children’s bereavement service. The appeal also aims to respond to any one-off approaches from organisations which deal with children or young people who they feel may be facing a difficult festive season.

It also helps ease the pressure many charities face over the festive season and allows 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: “It’s hard to believe the appeal has now been in existence for a decade, growing each year.

“During that time thousands upon thousands of toys have been provided for hundreds of deserving children across the area.

“While the response to the appeal grows every year, however, so does the demand for the gifts and the charities’ need for our help.

“Many have understandably come to rely on what the appeal can provide and it means they can put their often scarce resources to other good use.

“The appeal is a big undertaking for us but in comparison to what all these great causes do day in day out throughout the year, it is the least we can do.

“We consider ourselves to be at the heart of the community and it is a privilege to be able to act as a channel for the generosity of local people who are as eager as we are to help these charities give the children they support a better Christmas than they might otherwise have had.

“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.”

If you would like to organise a collection for the appeal via your business, workplace, school or group, would like to be one of our drop off points or would simply like more information, call the Stirling Observer on 01786 451110 or 459417 or email news@stirlingobserver. co.uk or kaiya.marjoribanks@ reachplc.com.

While a number of workplaces and schools are hugely supportive of Give A Gift, individuals also answer the call, dropping gifts off at various places which kindly agree each year to be collection venues.

Drop off points: STIRLING: Stirling Observer office, 34 Upper Craigs; Nationwide Building Society, Port Street; BALFRON: Balfron Library; BANNOCKBURN: Bannockburn Post Office; DUNBLANE: Beech Tree Cafe, 2 Beech Road; Dunblane Centre, Stirling Road.

Keep an eye open for more collection points being added over the next week or so and thank you for your generosity.