A group of Freuchie mums are being Santa’s little helpers this Christmas to ensure as many youngsters as possible receive a gift.
Katherine Hope, Hilary Haman, Sarah Brown and Charlotte Lever has stepped in to establish the Gift of Christmas Appeal Fife following the demise of Fife’s Spirit of Christmas appeal which closed after a highly successful two years.
It has the same aim, to bring a bit of festive cheer to children who are in need and might otherwise receive very little this Christmas Day.
In the process of registering it as a charity, Katherine explained she first gave to the Spirit of Christmas appeal while helping run Freuchie playgroup.
When she discovered it wasn’t running this year she got together with some of the other mothers to carry on the good work.
With eight children among them, and one on the way, the mums know what joy Christmas brings to youngsters, and how sad it is to think of some children who may go without.
“I used to work with children whose families were in dire straits, and I guess the public often just aren’t aware of the situation a lot of families and children are living in,” she said.
“There is quite a significant proportion in the poverty bracket in a family where at least one person works.
“Children do not understand why Santa doesn’t bring them much and brings the next person quite a lot.
“It is really sad to think of a child wondering why they perhaps aren’t as important or why they don’t get anything,” she said.
The appeal will again ask the public to donate new children’s toys, in a gift bag if possible, with the age and gender of the ideal recipient attached.
Going live on November 1, they will be using most of the same drop off points across Fife which were used by the Spirit of Christmas, including Nationwide, Remax, Hallmark and the Ceramic Tile Warehouse plus a few new ones such as The Co-op and Scottish Deer Centre.
Requests will come in from the same charities and organisations which have benefited from the previous appeal, including Fife Women’s Aid, Barnardo’s the Cottage Family Centre, Home-start and Fife Young Carers, while new ones are on board too.
Last year Fife’s Spirit of Christmas received more than 2,000 requests and although the new group has only been running for a few days it is already reaching 5,000 members in its Facebook group and hopes to achieve 15,000 members by the end of 2016.
Katherine has been overwhelmed by the support from the public, drop off points and beneficiaries, and said they have the full backing of the people who ran the previous appeal.
To help out visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/312582869103406/
