Salvation Army East Kilbride Toy Appeal to bring festive cheer to over 500 children living in poverty

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Volunteers from the Salvation Army in East Kilbride are once again working hard to make sure vulnerable children don’t go without this Christmas.More than 600 local children living in poverty woke up with a gift to unwrap after an overwhelming response to last year’s Toy Appeal.And despite huge financial pressures facing families this year amid the cost of living crisis and the fallout from the Covid pandemic, the number of families needing a helping hand this Christmas is down slightly with an estimated 550 children in need.A mountain of donated toys and gifts are currently piling up at the Murray base to make sure that no child in East Kilbride will face a bleak Christmas.The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.

Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you.Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android But organiser Carol Gillies, who has ran the appeal for 13 years, believes that figure is set to skyrocket in 2023.She said: “Strangely enough the numbers of families needing help are actually down slightly this year.“It could be because there are other charities and appeals people have got involved with, but I’m anticipating next year the numbers will be much higher because the cost of living crisis will have hit by that point.“Just now we have 400 children to support.

The biggest we’ve had was 700 and that was during the last financial crisis - I think we’ll hit that again next year.”Donation