Disadvantaged children who don’t normally get much for Christmas will wake up to presents this year thanks to donations from the people of Dundee.
The city council’s Children and Families Department has developed a scheme called the Christmas Toy Appeal, which this year was said to have been the biggest and most successful to date.
Around £84,000 worth of donations were received, meaning that 870 children and teenagers will receive ten gifts each.
Organiser Kiley West said: “The Christmas Toy Appeal has been going for around four or five years, but this year it has been the biggest.
“We identify children on our files who we know would receive few or no presents.
“Then we fundraised through auctioning off stuff by the View, Paolo Nutini, Shane from Westlife and others.
“We also worked in partnership with the Overgate, Wave 102 and Tesco. For example, Tesco had donation stations where people could drop off toys.
“In the end we had lots of toys for the younger kids but not so much for the teenagers, so we used the cash donations to buy them things they would need and want.”
A special wrapping session was held, with members of the public acting as elves to get all the presents wrapped.
Kiley added: “All the staff went above and beyond to make the appeal possible, working weekends and evenings to get it all done.
“Special mention should go to a man called Ronnie Breen, who got all his friends on board, did raffles and bonus balls, and raised an amazing £4000.
“When he was young his mum would get him to give to the less fortunate at Christmas and he wanted to do the same now, teaching his own son about how important it is.
“We want to thank everyone involved –it would not be possible without the generosity of the Dundee people and the community.”
