It’s now less than two weeks until the Press and Journal gives away £5,000 to four of the region’s most worthy causes.
The unfaltering efforts of our chosen charities – Befriend a Child in Aberdeen, Home-Start Aberdeen, the Denis Law Legacy Trust and Home-Start East Highland – are being rewarded through our 2020 Christmas campaign.
They’ll each receive £1,000 with the remaining money going to the group with the most votes.
Each are now calling upon our readers to keep submitting their Tokens for Toys vouchers and having their say in how our fund is distributed.
‘Taking away the worries around coping with Christmas’
Eleanor McEwan, general manager of Home-Start Aberdeen, said: “It’s been a difficult year for families and, for many, this Christmas will be a challenging one.
“Some families have seen their income reduced due to redundancy or reduced working hours. This will put further strain on some parents who will be in the position of having to choose between buying the basics or having presents for their children to open on Christmas morning.
“We’ve seen an increase in mental health problems among parents this year, and where families have been cut off from their normal support networks of family and friends, they face levels of loneliness and isolation this Christmas.
It makes a huge difference to families to know that people understand how tough things are and are willing to offer a helping hand.”
Eleanor McEwan, of Home-Start Aberdeen
“We are so grateful to be benefiting from the Tokens for Toys appeal. It will allow us to give families a bit of extra help and support, taking away some of their worries about how they will cope with Christmas this year.
“It makes a huge difference to families to know that people understand how tough things are and are willing to offer a helping hand.”
Her counterpart at Home-Start East Highland, Natalie Shinwari, said the charity had already begun preparing itself for a further demand for help in 2021.
She said: “We are already planning for a very different Christmas and are trying to support our families to ensure that, this year more than ever, that no child goes without so this incentive is going to go a long way in helping us make this happen.”
Our next charity benefitting from this year’s campaign, The Denis Law Legacy Trust, was founded by the revered Scotland football legend and offers free-to-access sport to young people in the city.
Kiana Coutts, an outreach development officer, said: “We are extremely grateful to be part of the Press and Journal’s Tokens for Toys campaign. This year has been tough on everyone, so to be able to offer a small gift to participants will mean so much; helping us build on existing relationships and continue making a difference.”
‘Bringing the magic of Christmas to families’
Meanwhile Aberdeen-based Befriend a Child is preparing to help some of the area’s most disadvantaged families this festive season.
The charity’s head of operations, Jean Gordon, said: “P&J’s Tokens for Toys will help bring the magic of Christmas to the families we support by ensuring that the children have presents to open on Christmas morning and activities to look forward to in 2021.
“I think we can all agree that this year has been tough, but it has been particularly difficult for the local children and families Befriend a Child support and we want to help alleviate some of those difficulties and give them a happy Christmas to remember.”