A bumper cash donation has handed a lifeline to a Scots food bank this Christmas.
East Kilbride-based Glencairn Crystal has been a long-standing supporter of anti-poverty charity Loaves and Fishes over the years.
Managing director Paul Davidson and his team chip in each year to ensure no child in their hometown wakes up without a gift on Christmas morning and no family is left without food on their table.
This year, the company donated a huge collection of toys and gifts to the charity, including £2000 of book tokens, and pledged an additional Christmas bonus by upping their monthly cash donation to a whopping £1000.
The family-run crystal decanter and glassware manufacturer has handcrafted prestigious decanters for some of the world’s rarest and most luxurious spirits ever released and are producers of the world’s favourite whisky glass – the Glencairn Glass.
Paul Davidson, Glencairn Crystal Managing Director, said: “Denis from Loaves and Fishes asked me to help with a food service for the homeless in Glasgow many years ago, serving a three course meal to some people who hadn’t held a knife and fork in their hands for a long time.
“He was giving them back some dignity and he had also just started a food bank in East Kilbride not far from our factory.
“It was a no brainer to help him in his quest to get food on the table for everyone who came to him for help and I should add, without judgement.
“The Christmas toys donations came from an off the cuff conversation, on getting a toy into the hands of every kid who may otherwise wake up to nothing. This soon morphed into multiple toys for every child, plus book and music vouchers for the teenagers who are often forgotten.
“Christmas can be an amazing time but it can also be brutal for so many, everyone at Glencairn understands this and chips in to help every year. Lesley and her team carry on with the same values Denis and his wife Cathie laid down and we’ll still be helping them for as long as they are needed by the local community.“
For more than 30 years, former Loaves and Fishes chair Denis Curran MBE and his late wife Cathie Curran dedicated their lives to helping the hungry and homeless in and around East Kilbride.
They helped countless families in East Kilbride and Glasgow, changing lives for the better and providing a glimmer of hope to those in despair.
This festive season, Loaves and Fishes will be dishing out 890 emergency food parcels to needy families in East Kilbride.
This includes gifts for 400 children who would otherwise have nothing to open on Christmas morning.
These staggering numbers have rocketed from last year, which saw the food bank feed a total of 640 people – 190 families and more than 300 children.
Outside of the festive season, on average the Singer Road-based charity dish out 250 parcels per week.
Thanking Paul and his team for their generosity, Loaves and Fishes chair Lesley Davidson said: “Paul and the team are endless and unwavering supporters of ours.
“They have been for a long, long time. Denis, my amazing predecessor built such a strong friendship and mutual respect with Paul. It’s my honour to continue this. Paul and the company recently increased their monthly donation to £1000 – I cried when he told me.
“The team donated an insane amount of Christmas toys and gifts. I think the thing I find most amazing about this is that Paul’s team are just as committed and emotionally invested in Loaves and Fishes as he is. How lucky are we? How lucky are our lovely families?”
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