Christmas Present Appeal for 2023 is launched

The Christmas Present Appeal for 2023 was this morning launched at Down Town in Burnley Town Centre.

Transcript

00:00 This is the third time I've done it but it's been going for many years.

00:02 It started with the Burling Express and Salvation Army.

00:05 And what we do is from now you will see all the bins out and about in town and we're asking

00:09 people to donate new unwrapped gifts for children right up to the age of 16, 18.

00:17 And then we work with support services to then distribute those presents to families

00:21 that might need them this Christmas.

00:23 One of the age categories we're really struggling with is the 12 and over's because obviously

00:27 teenagers are very hard to buy as we know for ourselves.

00:30 So anything that you can get, smellies, vouchers, any sort of clothing, that would be brilliant.

00:38 The Toy Appeal is really important.

00:39 Last year we helped over 1,000 children.

00:41 The feedback that we got was absolutely amazing.

00:43 Obviously everybody's struggling at this time of year, let alone with the cost of living

00:48 crisis on top.

00:49 And it's great to work with the support services because they're working with those families

00:53 directly so we're making sure the toys are going to the right families.

00:57 It's very important, obviously.

00:59 It's a real tradition.

01:00 It's a family time.

01:02 So also how we do it, the parents get them unwrapped so the parents actually have ownership

01:07 of those toys as well on Christmas Day.

01:08 We provide the wrapping paper for the family to wrap the presents themselves.

01:12 If you watch our socials and the Burling Express we'll regularly say where the bins are.

01:17 They're out and about.

01:18 They're always at Tesco in Burnley and Paddyhurn.

01:20 They're at Asda in Burnley.

01:23 They're also out and about in the community at sports centres, leisure centres, downtown

01:28 especially in the town centre.

01:30 But if you would also like to host a bin, please contact Burley Together and we can

01:34 organise for you to have a bin for your work colleagues.