Christmas care boxes set to provide festive cheer

In a bid to provide a bit of Christmas cheer to those facing challenging times this year Thurso Community Café is making up care boxes.

Ann Brock, who runs the café, explained: "We want to bring a bit of cheer to an uncertain Christmas for many, so the team came up with a fantastic idea to spread some love through the county over the festive season.

"We are gathering presents to make Christmas care boxes to hand out to people in need – Covid has hit some people very hard and Christmas is a concern for folk who are going through challenging times.

"We aim to collect donations from anyone willing to give us gifts/unwanted presents or cash so we can make up these Christmas care boxes and then give them out to the most vulnerable and financially stretched in our community in December."

The boxes will be for both children and adults, consisting of Christmas presents such as food, gadgets, toys or other types of gifts. They will be given to anyone who is in need or struggling financially and the café will arrange for people to pick them up in the middle of December.

Ann added: "We will organise boxes into ages and folk can simply contact us privately to receive one."

The Christmas boxes, which are completely free, will be available for collection from December 16, but they must be pre-ordered. People can put their names in for one by emailing the local organisation at thursocc@yahoo.com or by going into the café to collect a form.

Anyone wishing to donate to this worthy cause can do so by popping into the café on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday between 10am-2pm. Contact can also be made via the Thurso Community Café Facebook page.

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.