Almost 300 people were given a Christmas Eve boost thanks to a community effort to ensure as many locals as possible were well fed over the festive season.
After five weeks in the planning, the Stirling Aid Christmas Eve Community Food event opened its doors at 4pm on December 24 to a long queue of people.
The hub was packed full of food and gifts generously donated from local businesses.
It was further boosted by a donation of £1600 raised by members of the public via the Stirling Pulling Together Facebook page.
With an army of hardworking volunteers, turkeys, steak pies, fresh fruit and vegetables, soup bags, portioned meals, cupboard essentials, selection boxes, flowers and wrapped gifts were handed out to 277 members of the public.
A large supply of ready meals and sandwiches were given to the nearby homeless hostels, with the remaining surplus delivered to the Stirling University Community Fridge after doors closed at 10pm.
Event managers, Elaine Clydesdale, Eleanor Graham, Jen Clarke, Joe Swindells and Philippa Cochrane said they were especially grateful to Citizen’s Advice Bureau Stirling and Stirling Aid (Haider Bhatti family) for their support “without which the event could not have taken place”.
One of the organisers, Jen Clarke said: “The logistics required to collect and organise food for a day such as this, is no small undertaking.
“The generosity of the volunteers who offered their time to drive and collect food, organise it, decorate the venue to make it a welcoming space, wrap gifts for the children and keep the shelves stocked over the seven hours we were open to the public was fantastic, a truly wonderful team of people.”
Craig Anderson added: “Stirling Citizen’s Advice Bureau were delighted to be involved in this vital community initiative. The sense of togetherness shown by all involved was truly exceptional.”
One member of the public said: “This has been really a big help to feed me and my three kids at Christmas to give them the best day.”
The organisers added: “Special thanks also to: Leanne at the Book Nook, Amy from Black Lotus Barbers, Nooch café and The Smiddy Blair Drummond who not only made generous donations but gave their time to help on the day.
“We are also grateful to the following: members of the public who dropped off donations, Victoria who designed our logo, YMCA Denny, RVS Stirling Community Hospital, Start-Up Stirling, Fairtrade, Stirling Health Food Shop, Stirling High School, Grahams Dairies, Bridge of Allan Primary School, Stirling Observer Give A Gift Appeal, M&S Dunblane, Bookers, Coop Denny, Aldi, Tesco Cumbernauld, Morrisons and Farmfoods for their generous donations.”
While the focus of the event was primarily distributing food, some toys and gifts were also available for anyone struggling to ensure Santa would
pay a visit on Christmas morning.
The Stirling Observer’s Give A Gift Appeal coordinator, reporter Kaiya Marjoribanks, said: “We were delighted to be able to contribute to the Christmas Eve Community Food event by providing some of the donations we received via our Give A Gift Appeal.
“While we have distributed thousands of gifts via charities and organisations in recent weeks, there are always those who will have slipped through the net, and this terrific community effort was a great way of ensuring items were still available to anyone in need right up to the last minute.
“Yet again the Stirling community has done itself proud.”