Brightening up Christmas thanks to The Northern Scot Toy and Food appeal
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CHRISTMAS is going to be brighter for lots of children, families and senior citizens across Moray this year thanks to the generosity of readers of The Northern Scot and its sister papers.
With a week left to donate to our Christmas Toy and Food appeal, the response so far has been amazing.
All the donations of gifts, food and cash will make a massive difference to all those who benefit from the annual appeal, which has been running for more than 25 years.
Today (Friday) we say a thank you to everybody who has donated so far and give others a chance to support the appeal with a festive drop-in from 10am to 3pm at our offices, 74-76 South Street, Elgin.
All the staff will be full of Christmas spirit and there will be teas, coffees, mulled wine, soft drinks, mince pies and shortbread, kindly donated by Dean's of Huntly, on offer to all callers during the day.
Joe Millican, joint content editor of The Scot, said: "To say we have been overwhelmed by the response to our appeal this year doesn't really do justice to the fantastic support we have had.
"Young and old alike have taken the time to buy a gift and others have organised special events to raise money which will be used to buy gift vouchers."
That included staff at the Magic Roundabout childcare centre in Elgin who did a sponsored cycle from Elgin to Lapland, on an exercise bike, which was supported by parents and others, and raised a magnificent £2,056.
The ladies of the Cantare choir had their traditional festive concert recently and that generated a tremendous £1400 for the appeal.
People have been donating on a terrific scale since the appeal was launched at the end of October.
Linda Commons, who co-ordinates the appeal for The Scot, added: "Our readers never cease to amaze us with the way they rally behind people less fortunate than themselves at this time of year."
Moray Council's social work department collects and distributes all the gifts in time for Christmas.
This year the appeal has been in association with the St Giles Centre in Elgin, which has had its own giving tree appeal for a number of years, and tomorrow there will be another collection afternoon from noon to 4pm in Santa's grotto in the shopping centre.
Centre manager Steve Young said: "We have been delighted to be part of such a wonderful event and thank everyone who has supported the appeal."
There are community collection points across Moray and you can find out more about these at www.northern-scot.co.uk
