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The Magic of Christmas

Our Impact With Your Help Over 10 Years

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  • 915,000 gifts were allocated and delivered in time for Christmas.
  • £4,541,000 donated in gift value for struggling families across our communities.
  • 122,000 local children woke on Christmas Day to a Gift Made with Love.
  • Referrals received from 860+ children's charities & organisations.
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Glasgow's Spirit of Christmas was founded by Julie Griffin in 2014 after hearing about a father who lost his wife to cancer, struggling with grief and depression and having no gifts to give his children on Christmas Day. Local services were able to provide the children with hotdogs for Christmas dinner but no gifts from 'Santa'.

 

Losing a parent is hard enough for a child, being forgotten by Santa at a time of great suffering when all other children are excitedly sharing the magic of Christmas at school, can create feelings of exclusion and isolation that can cause psychological and emotional pain for many years to come.

 

Julie, a single mum of two children, reached out to family and friends to donate just one gift for a child suffering hardship or poverty. This was at a time when there were toy drives and inspiring overseas projects but no

organisation offering a 'Gift Made with Love' filled with age appropriate physical toys and gifts for local children.

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With a few friends and and just one ‘Santa Stop Here’ sign in a carpark, people from all over Glasgow and beyond came to donate gifts and become a Secret Santa for a local child in need.

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This year is Glasgow's Spirit of Christmas, 10th year and 11th annual gift campaign supporting local children affected by hardship or living in poverty in Glasgow and surrounding regions, including North and South Lanarkshire, East and West Dunbartonshire, Dumbarton District, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North, South and East Ayrshire, Argyll & Bute and East Renfrewshire.

October 2014
Where it all began!
Patterton Car Park,

Newton Mearns


1st Gift Drop Off

 

Bringing Joy to Children in Need

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Today, Glasgow's Spirit of Christmas is a massive undertaking. We receive referrals and support requests from over 100 children's charities and organisations to distribute and provide toys & gifts to local children in need. We don't receive funding and we've never had big advertising or marketing budgets to spend and help raise awareness of the campaign. We have relied solely on word of mouth all these years and the generosity of the most giving and caring companies and donors to continue to protect the magic of Christmas for thousands of children and families each year. 

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It took another eight years of 100% voluntary work before we were able to have just 1 dedicated paid staff member who works on the campaign all year round, meaning that we still rely on big hearted volunteers in many roles such as admin projects, packing, fundraising events, social media etc to help us achieve our aims year on year and fulfill the wishes of thousands of children for a visit from Santa.

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To continue keeping our campaign costs as low as possible we are always looking for volunteers in a variety of roles to help anytime from 1st August until the launch from 1st October - 22nd December. If you would like to volunteer for a minimum of 3 hours per week or a half or full day in any of our volunteer roles, please get in touch using our Volunteer Form below.

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Our mission is to bring joy and happiness to as many children as we can during the holiday season with your help. We work tirelessly to ensure that every child receives a relevant and special Gift Made with Love kindly donated by generous, kind and compassionate charity donors and supporters, private community Facebook group/page members, Instagram followers and company sponsors.

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Our 10 years of commitment to making a difference in the lives of so many children on such a massive scale with minimal permanent staffing or resources each year, makes our gift campaign pretty unique and special. With your support, we can continue spreading the spirit of Christmas to those who need it the most.

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Glasgow's Spirit of Christmas is a truly miraculous campaign because of you.

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Thank you for being part of our magical Christmas Children's Story each year!

Join our Volunteer Team

Volunteer roles available
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