THE first charity which is set to benefit from the Clydebank Post’s toy and food appeal is West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare (WDCF).

The Clydebank Cares campaign, sponsored by Smyths Toys Clydebank Kilbowie, with support from Clyde Shopping Centre, is calling on kind locals to donate non-perishable food items and toys for children in need.

All the items we collect will be given to local charities supporting our community's most vulnerable people.

This week the Post is shining a light on the vital work WDCF do to help support those most in need.

Clair Coyle, manager at WDCF, said: “At the moment we have six projects; emergency food provision, a toy bank which runs each year, a school uniform bank, brunch bags for kids during the school holidays, and a fuel poverty project where we support people who are on pre-payment metres.”

The charity has seen a year-on-year increase in the number of people requiring its support however, Clair told the Post there was an 84 per cent increase during the Covid pandemic.

Not only was there a huge jump in demand for the charity’s services during the pandemic but it also prompted a huge shift in the way that it operated.

Clair added: “Prior to the pandemic we ran food distribution centres in Alexandria, Dumbarton, and Clydebank once a week.

“When all of the community centres closed we moved to a home delivery service and it’s worked so well for us.

“Some people find it to be a more dignified way of supporting them as we aren’t asking folk to queue up in public.

“We’re also able to support a lot more people because so many have told us they could never have physically come along to our foodbanks.

“We deliver in unmarked vans, it’s a very discreet delivery.”

WDCF currently has two of its own vans which alongside four vans from a local community payback team carry out deliveries four days a week.

In the lead-up to Christmas, this is expected to increase to five days to keep up with demand.

Clair said: “The demand for our food parcel service does jump significantly in the couple of weeks leading up to Christmas.

“Our toy bank is so busy. We actually start the toy bank in October because that’s how busy it gets. Last year, we provided 1,334 children with toy parcels.

“Our criteria is quite tight. We advertise that we will support children who would otherwise wake up on Christmas morning with nothing, so it’s families who are in desperate need.

“This year, similar to food, we’ve seen a big rise in families who are working getting in touch with us. Many of them have just missed the threshold to qualify for free school meals and uniform grants and they are really struggling.

“This is significant for us because usually, it’s people who are working that donate to us and what we’re finding is it’s possibly families who have donated to us in the past who are now seeking help.”

On a weekly basis, the charity is running out of almost all of its food supplies and is appealing to kind-hearted Bankies to help replenish its stock so it can continue supporting those in need.

The charity especially needs tinned food, selection boxes, nappies, baby wipes, pet food, and toiletries.

Each of the emergency food parcels that the charity provides contains enough food for the family for seven days as well as some toiletries.

However, with stocks running low, a decrease in donations, and an increase in demand Clair said the charity would be grateful for any help.

Clair added: “We know that the need is out there and it’s awful to think that there are families struggling and possibly children could be waking up on Christmas morning with nothing it’s just unbearable to think about in this day and age that this still happens.”