MORE than 900 children in York have received a present from Santa this year thanks to an appeal.
Children across York had presents to open on Christmas morning thanks to the generosity of members of the public who donated to The Salvation Army’s Christmas Present Appeal.
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The church and charity, based at Burton Green Primary School, distributed more than 3,500 gifts as part of the appeal, which asks for donations for children whose families are already making impossible choices between food, heating, and bills.
It was thanks to an army of volunteers who responded to a York Press appeal that the church could meet the need and get presents distributed to agencies such as social workers, schools and family workers to ensure they reached the most vulnerable children across the city.
Major Andrew Vertigan, who leads York Salvation Army with Major Andrea, said: “This looks to be the biggest Christmas Present Appeal York has seen. We distributed more than 3,500 presents to 903 children from over 500 families, and still had referral requests coming in right up to the last minute.
“It was a massive city wide effort which demonstrated the generosity of the community. We had so many donations with people turning up with cars full of toys. We had one day where two separate organisations turned up with 1,000 gifts. It was incredible.
“I can’t express what this will have meant to those children who wake up on Christmas morning with something to open. People may perceive York to be a wealthy city, but there are real pockets of need and families who are struggling to put food on the table let alone have the budgets to provide presents to their children. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to those who donated to this appeal and made sure that there were smiles on the faces of the most vulnerable this year.”
Space for the gifts was generously provided by Lidgett Methodist Church with volunteers from the community, York Rotary and York Ripon and St John University helping to sort gifts.
Andrew said: “I was overwhelmed with the response we had when we asked for volunteers. People just wanted to help and they absolutely delivered. Thousands of gifts were sorted into age categories and packed up ready to be distributed, and some superb conversations were had. Many came back to our Christmas carol services too. It really did embody the true spirit of Christmas.”
The Salvation Army in York also delivered festive hampers and Christmas cards sent in by BBC Radio York listeners to people forced to sleep on the streets via Charlie Malarkey and its Early Intervention and Prevention Project.
For more information on York Salvation Army visit https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/york or search for them on Facebook.
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