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A Fife Christmas gift appeal will return for its eighth year, 12 months after struggles getting premises and volunteers almost brought it to an end.

The Gift of Christmas Appeal FIFE has been running since 2016 and has helped families across the county. Last year, the appeal put out an urgent call for premises as it struggled to secure an appropriate location.

This year however, there were no such worries as Fife Group Ltd once again offered its services, and 60 locations across the region will also act as drop off points for gifts. You can find out more at: https://giftofchristmas.wixsite.com/appealfife

Laura Houston from the appeal said that this year there is a focus on ensuring that kids are kept warm and that the gifts match their needs.

The charity relies on its 30 volunteers, trustees and help from Lloyds Bank Group for their 'day to make a difference' (Pic: Gift of Christmas FIFE)

She explained: “We’re looking for a lot of warm clothing and blankets. There are so many people that are maybe not putting their heating on as much. We’re focusing on that and we have an additional Amazon wishlist to look at additional needs of children, tending to cater towards disabilities and any kind of needs that might not just be met through generic gifts.”

The charity is keen to ensure that sensory toys are available as Laura said they are receiving an increasing number of referrals. “It’s better to create a more bespoke gift for their needs rather than giving a generic present”, she added.

Gift of Christmas Appeal Fife aims to ensure that every child and young person, aged up to18 years, has gifts to open on Christmas morning.

The appeal opened this week and runs until December 10 with a collection day on December 15. In recent years, the appeal has peaked at 1300 referrals, but with the current cost of living crisis there are fears that this could increase.

Laura said: “Due to the circumstances we’ve had a few requests from additional beneficiary organisations in Fife. I think due to the financial circumstances at the moment it’s going to be busier than previous years. It’s too early to definitively say that at the moment but we opened up applications last week and we’ve already got quite a number so I think we can probably assume that it is likely to be busy”.

Fife Christmas appeal set to return with 60 drop off points across region