Christmas donations gift demand up, charities say

Charities giving Christmas presents to struggling families say more children need their help - but they are getting fewer donations this year.

The Chard Christmas Present Appeal said it was having to deal with a high-than-normal demand this year, and blamed the problem on more people struggling financially.

Martyna Lee, founder of the appeal, said a lot of families were worried about affording presents for their children due to the cost of living crisis and have "tears in their eyes" when the charity can help them.

She added: "We are getting more referrals and less donations because of cost of living, so we do struggle. Cost of living is going to get harder and harder."

Lee started the appeal by herself in 2019 from her living room as part of the Lord's Larder food bank in Chard.

They rely completely on donations and do not receive any funding.

"With one family, the social worker asked the children what they would like for Christmas and they asked for pencils and a colouring book," Lee said.

"That broke my heart. They weren't asking for expensive gifts.

"So I made sure they had a large gift package, including board games."

She added that another family she remembers had a fire at their home just before Christmas and they lost "nearly everything".

"We managed to get them fantastic gifts and a Christmas tree and decorations," Lee said.

Meanwhile, Taunton's charity appeal Christmas Sparkle said their demand has risen sharply over the last couple of years, with 500 presents given out in 2015 to 10,000 last year.

They said they are expecting even higher demand this year.

Gill Harrison, founder and manager at Christmas Sparkle, said she believes the cost of living crisis is increasing the demand for their services.

"When we started the project in 2015, we gave out 500 individual gifts. Last year, it was around 2,300 parcels, that's about 10,000 individual gifts," Harrison said.

"We are expecting possibly even more requests this year. That's mostly because of the cost-of-living crisis."

Harrison said they work with schools, social services, police, women's refuges and community nursing teams, which have all increased their referrals to Christmas Sparkle over the last few years.

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