Month: November 2021

This year we have decided to get involved!

Here at Colquhoun we believe that no child should ever do without, so we have decided to scrap our usual workplace Secret Santa and instead help make a difference to those who need it most! If you would like to get involved as a family or perhaps take this idea into your own work place, all the details you need are below. 

Lots of Love,

from your Colquhoun Park Family xx

CHRISTMAS CHILDREN’S CAMPAIGN LAUNCH POST2021 

We are delighted to announce that our doors are now officially OPEN for Glasgow’s Spirit of Christmas 8th Annual Children’s Gift Campaign

It’s been another incredibly challenging year for us all. Despite our difficulties Christmas can provide a vital opportunity and antidote to our wellbe

ing when we practice appreciation, gratitude, love, connection, community, compassion and giving. Especially for those who are having a difficult time… let’s do what we can to include them.
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The best feeling in the world is bringing the magic and gift of Christmas to a local child suffering hardship or living in poverty. It lifts their

spirit and fills their hearts with hope…and ours!
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Becoming a Secret Santa and making a difference to a child’s life is a very special feeling. Our charity’s aim is to spread as much hope and joy as we can again this year for those less fortunate around us.
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Working with our amazing partners to reach more children and with your wonderful support our community aims to save Christmas for 19,500 referred children living locally in Glasgow and all surrounding areas. This is a large increase of 26% at this early stage in our campaign versus last year! #savechristmas2021
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As expected with ongoing world events this number may increase as we move towards Christmas so as Facebook won’t allow us to change our settings to a public group. Please help our campaign by sharing with everyone you know whom you think would like to become a Secret Santa and help us save Christmas for all these children suffering hardship this year or living in poverty.
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Simply copy and past our link to your own FB profile. https://www.facebook.com/groups/613947025394004/ or our public page here; https://www.facebook.com/glasgowspiritofchristmas/.
Just one share from every member could make such a difference as we rely solely on word of mouth and sharing to increase awareness of our campaign year on year.
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To help us #savechristmas2021 for so many children and families in desperate times this year, please read the following donation process carefully;
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ENTER THE CHRISTMAS PORTAL
by visiting our website here; https://www.cultivatingmindfulness.org.uk/gsoc
1. Click the ‘PLEDGE A DONATION HERE’ button to take you to our Christmas Portal and make a donation.
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2. Once in the Christmas Portal click the, ‘PARTICIPATING CHARITIES’ tab from the homepage menu and then ‘MORE INFO’ to check the charity’s address, gift drop off delivery window, days and opening times to make sure it is within reach and easy drop off days and times.
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3. Please read our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) tab on the top menu and if you still require help allow 48 hours for any queries to be answered by our student volunteers. Please be kind, patient and understanding with our team as this year’s requests are significant for a small team and mostly volunteer led campaign.
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4. When you have selected a charity of your choice, click the red ‘MAKE A PLEDGE’ button.
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5. Next add the number of children you wish to donate to by gender and age group. This number will decrease every time a member pledges for a child until all children have their very own Secret Santa this year.
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6. You will then be asked to confirm your pledge and enter your details to check out.
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7. Next you will receive an automated email confirming your pledge details and the address to take your gifts to alongside the opening days, times and delivery window. Please keep this email safe as it contains a QR CODE for your charity to scan the barcode to be receipted into our system so that we know that you have delivered them.
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8. We are very grateful to our team of Facebook Moderators and to have a team of volunteer degree students from Strathclyde University joining us again this year as part of their Social Responsibility Pathway. The students will be answering questions or queries from Monday 4th October for a number of allocated partners and their email will be included in your gift pledge confirmation email. Please be patient, kind and understanding with our volunteer team and wait 48 hours for a reply as they have a big task and attend University during the day and work part-time.
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9. We would encourage all of our members if your gifts are ready to go, to deliver them at the start of your chosen charity/organisation’s delivery window which is confirmed on your email confirmation.
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10. Please note that Gifts this year will go directly to our partners and not to our premises at The Wellbeing Centre in Muirend as we will be delivering mindfulness and wellbeing courses for teens and young adults to help improve mental health as well as movement and keep-fit classes for adults.
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11. We will be looking for volunteers from the first week in December to help us at The Wellbeing Centre to organise, pick, pack, quality check and allocate gifts purchased from cash donations for our partners where there are shortfalls in gift requests to ensure as many children as possible receive a Gift Made with Love to open on Christmas Day.
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We have 94 Christmas Partners participating in our children’s campaign this year. More information on their addresses, delivery times and windows and the number of children requiring a Secret Santa can be found on our Christmas Portal;
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GSOC OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN PARTNERS;
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1. Aberlour – Glasgow Southside
2. Aberlour – South Ayrshire
3. African Relief Support
4. Alcohol and Drug Recovery Service
5. ASSIST
6. Baby Bank Scotland
7. Barnardos – East Ayrshire
8. Barnardos – Easterhouse
9. Barnardos – Glasgow Intensive Family Support Services
10. Barnardos – Glasgow
11. Barnardos – Lanarkshire
12. Barnardos – North & South Ayrshire
13. Blairvadach Childrens House, West Dunbartonshire Council
14. Caledonian Team – Glasgow HSCP
15. Children 1st – East Renfrewshire
16. Children 1st – Girvan
17. Children 1st – Glasgow
18. Children 1st – North Ayrshire
19. Circle – FABI
20. DRC Youth Project
21. East Dunbartonshire Council
22. East King Street Children’s House – Helensburgh
23. East Park
24. East Renfrewshire Young Carers Centre
25. Eastwood Health Centre – Youth Intensive Support Centre
26. Family Nurse Partnership – Drumchapel
27. Family Nurse Partnership – Dumbarton
28. Family Nurse Partnership – Easterhouse (Team A)
29. Family Nurse Partnership – Easterhouse (Team G)
30. Family Nurse Partnership – Govan
31. Family Nurse Partnership – Johnstone
32. FARE
33. G15 Youth Project
34. Glasgow City Council – Housing & Welfare
35. Glasgow North West Carers
36. Glasgow Southeast Foodbank
37. Glasgow’s No1 Baby & Family Support Service
38. Govan Community Project
39. Health Visiting Team – Thornliebank
40. Homestart – Glasgow North
41. Homestart – Glasgow South
42. Hope Project Scotland
43. Include Me 2
44. Jeely Piece Club
45. Kempsthorn RCU Pollok
46. LES Hoey DreamMaker Foundation
47. Love & Light Recovery
48. Money Advice & Rights Team East Ren
49. North Ayrshire Foodbank
50. North United Communities
51. North West Children & Families Duty Team
52. One Community Scotland – Violence Reduction Unit
53. One Parent Families
54. Parkhead Health Centre
55. PEEK Project
56. Preshal Trust
57. Rosemount Lifelong Learning Nursey
58. Saheliya Playgroup
59. SAY Women
60. Scottish Syrian Association for Integration and Relief (SARIF)
61. Sean’s Trust
62. Social Work – Argyll & Bute
63. Social Work – Barrhead
64. Social Work – Drumchapel
65. Social Work – Easterhouse
66. Social Work – Govan, Gorbals, Castlemilk and Pollok
67. Social Work – Parkhead
68. Social Work – Partick
69. Social Work – Possilpark
70. Social Work – South Lanarkshire
71. Social Work Youth – West Dunbartonshire Council
72. St Thomas Primary School
73. Stepping Stones – Power of Play Project
74. Stepping Stones for Families – Community Support
75. Stepping Stones for Families – Family Wellbeing Service
76. SWAMP & G53 Together
77. Temple Shafton Youth Project
78. Turning Point Homeless Outreach
79. UBUNTU
80. Waist Not Want Not
81. Well Fed Scotland CIC
82. West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare
83. Whiterose Community Hall
84. Women’s Aid – Dumbarton District
85. Women’s Aid – East Ayrshire
86. Women’s Aid – East Renfrewshire
87. Women’s Aid – Glasgow
88. Women’s Aid – Glasgow East
89. Women’s Aid – Monklands
90. Women’s Aid – Motherwell & District
91. Women’s Aid – North Ayrshire
92. Women’s Aid – North Lanarkshire
93. Women’s Aid – South Lanarkshire
94. Young People’s Futures
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The total number of children requiring our support by age and gender is as follows;
Total Children requiring Gifts = 19,577
Girl 0-6 months x 454
Girl 6-12 months x 559
Girl 1-2 years x 942
Girl 3-5 years x 1222
Girl 6-8 years x 1473
Girl 9-12 years x 1834
Girl 13-16 years x 1676
Girl 16+ years x 1514
TOTAL GIRLS GIFTS REQUIRED = 9,674
Boy 0-6 months x 460
Boy 6-12 months x 564
Boy 1-2 years x 1032
Boy 3-5 years x 1261
Boy 6-8 years x 1544
Boy 9-12 years x 1874
Boy 13-16 years x 1708
Boy 16+ years x 1460
TOTAL BOYS GIFTS REQUIRED = 9,903
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Please DO NOT email your chosen charity directly to donate gifts as this will result in duplicate gifts being allocated to the same charity through the CHRISTMAS PORTAL which means less children will receive a gift this year.
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We are a unique Christmas campaign in that we only request the number of gifts required to support the number of children referred to us as suffering hardship or living in poverty by our partners.
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Each year we move into this campaign with nothing but big hearted volunteers and hope in our hearts that our community can make a difference to a child’s life. That feeling on Christmas day makes all the giving worthwhile and we couldn’t do it without YOU ❤️. We are so incredibly grateful for our member’s support and to everyone who has helped this annual campaign to grow over 8 incredibly hard working, heart-warming, emotional and rewarding years.
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This campaign has been built on volunteers and supporters contributing their time, gifts, love, energy and care for an uplifting and meaningful cause which is protecting the spirit, hope and magic of Christmas for all children.
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We have added some images of a small selection of the lovely gifts donated in previous years by our members for inspiration. Please give what you can small or large even if it’s one selection box, it will light up a child’s day.
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Please continue to share your beautiful Gifts Made with Love in our Facebook group to help new members and inspire others with ideas for their gifts. Please also share your own gift creations by uploading your photo’s to the page and when you drop your gifts off to keep us all updated. We love to see the journey and the gifts arriving to be sent to their new forever homes.
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We have some fun Fundraising Events this year to do with family and friends including a SANTA SPRINT and a MAKE A CHRISTMAS GINGERBREAD HOUSE COMPETITION.
Download your PDF for more info here; https://www.cultivatingmindfulness.org.uk/fundraising-events
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We will continue to post updates throughout the campaign to keep you up to date and to celebrate the kindness and caring of our community.
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#theplacewherekindnesshappens, #glasgowsspiritofchristmas, #savechristmas2021
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ARE YOU READY TO ENTER THE CHRISTMAS PORTAL AND BECOME A SECRET SANTA? 🎅🎅🎅
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TO PLEDGE A GIFT MADE WITH LOVE OR MAKE A DONATION please visit our charity website here;
ENTER THE CHRISTMAS PORTAL
https://www.cultivatingmindfulness.org.uk/gsoc
Click the ‘PLEDGE A DONATION HERE’ button to access the CHRISTMAS PORTAL homepage and follow the instructions.
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We hope you enjoy being a Secret Santa with Glasgow’s Spirit of Christmas this year! Grateful thanks to everyone who makes this group possible and #theplacewherekindnesshappens Lets #savechristmas2021 ❤️🥰❤️🥰❤️🎅❤️🥰❤️🥰❤️