Toy campaign's now more vital than ever

Latest appeal ready to kick off for kids this Christmas

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A challenging few years has made the Stirling Observer Give A Gift Appeal ever more vital at Christmas.

While support for the appeal has grown year on year, widening the reach to local charities and good causes, organisations say the need has also grown.

Appeal coordinator Kaiya Marjoribanks said: "The level of donations we receive year on year has grown considerably since the very first appeal in 2008, which has enabled us to support more and more local charities and good causes consistently every year.

"However, the need for the gifts has also risen over that time and we are eternally grateful to our readers and supporters for helping us to meet that growing demand year after year and, of course, to all the drop-off points who make it all possible.

"We are always humbled by how much support people still appear to be prepared to offer.

"However, it is always an anxious time in terms of hoping we can meet the growing demand and requests at least as far as possible.

"We know it's not possible to reach every child or family in need but with the wide reach of the many and varied charities and good causes who now receive toys and gifts from the Give A Gift Appeal we do our utmost to reach that goal.

"Every single item in the last few years has been collected to go to children and families - and we always know the demand isn’t exhaustive.