More than a thousand children given gifts to open on Christmas Day thanks to Doncaster Salvation Army in biggest appeal ever

Every year the church and charity collects donations of unwrapped gifts which are distributed to vulnerable children who would otherwise have nothing to open on Christmas Day.

Thanks to the generosity of members of the public and local businesses, Doncaster Salvation Army, based at Lakeside Community Church, held its biggest appeal ever this year with referrals for 1,018 children compared to 779 referrals in 2022.

Charlotte Lilley, Children and Youth Worker at Doncaster Salvation Army, said: “Thank you to everyone who donated to our Christmas Present Appeal this year, your generosity made such a difference to hundreds of families and brought smiles to the faces of so many children who would otherwise have had nothing to open on Christmas Day.

“This was our biggest appeal ever and the sheer volume of referrals we had shows how much people are struggling. The fact we were able to meet the need is thanks to the generosity of people from Doncaster and the surrounding areas. Even if they are struggling themselves they still want to help others.

“We are especially grateful to Andy Crittenden from ACMAC Martial Arts who spearheaded the ‘Doncaster Children’s Christmas Toy Appeal’ on social media, organised collection points and advertised for donations which were then delivered to us to distribute. This year they collected an incredible 2,516 toys for our appeal.

“We are grateful to the general public for their fantastic support of the appeal which helps to spread the message of love and joy to our community, and of course to our brilliant staff members and volunteers who helped to sort the gifts and get them ready to distribute to families. We would not be able to do this without them.”

The Salvation Army worked with local agencies including schools, social services and health visitors to distribute the gifts in the week running up to Christmas.

Doncaster Salvation Army continues to support the community running a number of activities. For more information visit https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/doncaster