An Aberdeen charity has announced the official launch of its annual holiday gift giving effort.
Instant Neighbour will be joined by the Depute Lord Provost today to kick-off the 29th Giving Tree Christmas Appeal.
The drive aims to distribute new presents to young people across the north-east who otherwise would not receive a gift at Christmas.
Instant Neighbour expects to hand out around 7,000 new gifts, donated by the public, to youngsters from Elgin to Stonehaven.
Sophy Green, chief executive of Instant Neighbour, said: “We are proud to be launching the 29th Giving Tree Appeal.
“It is at this time of the year that we recognise that not all young people receive much at Christmas and we are delighted to coordinate the delivery of happiness across the north-east.
“We simply could not do this without the support of the citizens of Aberdeen city and Aberdeenshire and I want to thank them all in advance for their support.
“There is a huge amount of work involved in making the appeal a success and I can’t thank our volunteers enough who help sort and distribute the gifts.
“I would also like to thank our main sponsors Chevron who give so generously to the appeal – and have done throughout its 28-year history.”
Children who benefit are nominated by family centres, community centres and social work teams.
The charity is asking generous people from across the region to take a gift tag from one of the Christmas Trees displayed throughout the city and Aberdeenshire.
The tag will feature the name and age of a young person to buy a new gift for, which should then be returned either unwrapped or in a gift bag, with the tag attached, to one of the drop off points listed by December 4.
Some venues include the reception of Marischal College, the Dutch Mill Hotel, Instant Neighbour on St Machar Drive and Sainbury’s at the Berryden retail park.
The gift drive begins today.
