A scheme to help thousands of Dundee children enjoy a cracking Christmas is preparing to launch again.
The Christmas toy appeal, organised by Dundee City Council skills for learning and work team in partnership with Help for Kids and Tesco, is aiming to make its fourth year the best yet.
The campaign — which has received the backing of Dundee band The View — is looking to distribute at least £70,000-worth of gifts.
Kiley West, 36, Opportunities for All manager at Discover Opportunities, expects more than 10,000 parcels to be delivered this year.
She said: “We will be holding our official three-day launch over the weekend of November 18, 19 and 20. We have Wave 102 and Tesco in the Community on board, which will provide us with greater resources and more drop-off points for parcels.
“The first year we ran this event it was tiny, but we are expecting this year to be the biggest yet.
“We are hoping to smash through last year’s target, which raised more than £70,000-worth of parcels.
“It amazes us how Dundee comes together for this cause in the lead-up to Christmas.
“We could potentially have as many as 10,000 parcels this year, so we will need plenty of volunteers to help us wrap and pack the gifts.”
Kiley described the process for volunteers, as well as staff, as “very rewarding”.
She added: “It is extremely hard work but to think that some kids might wake up with nothing is extremely heartbreaking.
“If we can do our bit to change that, it is rewarding to know that these parcels can make someone’s Christmas Day.”
One of the volunteers looking to make a difference is “chief elf” and coordinator Danni Irvine, 18.
She said: “We are in the process of organising a quiz night in the Fort Hotel for November 30, along with a number of other events in the run-up to Christmas.”
The former St John’s High School pupil added: “We are also organising an online auction.
“The View have donated a signed guitar, while The Proclaimers have also donated items, which is great.”
The campaign — which has been backed by a number of other stars in the past, including Paolo Nutini, is aiming to get further big names involved in helping to raise funds for the appeal.
Danni, who is from Coldside, added: “We know that Shane Filan, formerly of Westlife, will be playing in the city tomorrow so we are hoping to get a chance to speak to him.”
The whole experience has been an eye-opener for the teenager.
She added: “You don’t realise how many children are in need until you come face-to-face with the reality.”
The children likely to benefit from the initiative this year have been identified by professional agencies and referred to Discover Opportunities.
The aim is for the work to continue beyond Christmas to improve families’ situations and to enable them to be removed from the list by the following year.
Kiley added: “We will also be working with CraigOwl Communities to see if we can help with any issues currently affecting the households which are receiving gifts this year.
“We’ve already had a number of businesses signing up to this year’s event.
“We would welcome any further businesses who want to come on board.”