Thanks to the generosity of this community we supported 51 young people. We tried to spend about £20 on each youngster then made sure that the under 10’s had about 6 toys including the preloved ones. Parents never asked for themselves so we tried hard to include them as appropriate.

Many organisations were already supporting people in varied ways and we were able to tap into those resources; the primary schools had been given funding from the rotary club to buy winter coats and shoes so we managed to make sure that families who we were working with knew how to get these.
Thanks to both Morrisons and Matalan in Livingston for giving us a discount on these purchases too. St Vincent de Paul linked with us and by us covering presents and finding winter clothing they were able to support the families in other ways with fresh food or fuel payments.

The Pupils and staff of Queensferry High School collected food and toiletries for food banks and anyone else who needed a wee bit extra support. They very kindly allowed us to make up food packages for the local families before we took the remainder to the food bank, as well as surprising six older folk who needed a bit of help.
We had people donate wrapping paper, make Christmas stockings, donate hand made children’s quilts, give us books they had written and offer their help.

We do have some items and money left over and will discuss the best way to utilise these within the community. On the basis that older people are part of our families we have already taken the extra toiletries and gifts to Queensferry Care (QCCC) to use as they feel fit, either as gifts for their clients or for use in the fundraising raffles that they rely on to keep functioning. Any remaining clothes we will discuss with the Health visitors , the Early years centre and Kids Love Clothes. The latter takes ‘as new’ clothes, wash and iron them then wrap as new to give to local families and have a 3 month waiting list at present.

Thank you to all who supported this

Anne Mitchell
Health & Well-being Convenor
Queensferry & District Community Council