Christmas donations gift demand up, charities say
Charities collecting Christmas presents for struggling families say demand has gone up.
Christmas gift appeals say demand is rising, charities report
The Christmas Sparkle appeal said the need for toys has increased in recent years.
Charities that provide Christmas gifts to families in hardship say more children now need their support, while donations have fallen this year.
The Chard Christmas Present Appeal said it is facing unusually high demand this year and blamed the situation on more people struggling financially.
Martyna Lee, who founded the appeal, said many families are anxious about paying for presents for their children because of the cost of living crisis, and that they have "tears in their eyes" when the charity is able to help.
She said: "We are getting more referrals and less donations because of cost of living, so we do struggle. Cost of living is going to get harder and harder."
Lee launched the appeal on her own in 2019 from her living room, as part of the Lord's Larder food bank in Chard.
The charity depends entirely on donations and receives no funding.
The Chard Christmas Present Appeal said more families need its help this year.
"With one family, the social worker asked the children what they would like for Christmas and they asked for pencils and a colouring book," Lee said.
"That broke my heart. They weren't asking for expensive gifts.
"So I made sure they had a large gift package, including board games."
She said another family she remembers had a fire at their home just before Christmas and lost "nearly everything".
"We managed to get them fantastic gifts and a Christmas tree and decorations," Lee said.
In Taunton, the charity appeal Christmas Sparkle said demand has climbed sharply over the past couple of years, rising from 500 presents distributed in 2015 to 10,000 last year.
The group said it expects demand to be even higher this year.
Gill Harrison, founder and manager of Christmas Sparkle, said she believes the cost of living crisis is driving the increase in demand for their services.
"When we started the project in 2015, we gave out 500 individual gifts. Last year, it was around 2,300 parcels, that's about 10,000 individual gifts," Harrison said.
"We are expecting possibly even more requests this year. That's mostly because of the cost-of-living crisis."
Harrison said they work with schools, social services, police, women's refuges and community nursing teams, all of which have increased their referrals to Christmas Sparkle in recent years.