A CHARITY aiming to make Christmas ‘sparkle’ for Wellington area children facing difficult circumstances is itself suffering the effects of the cost of living crisis this year.

The annual Christmas Sparkle Project, which has two collection points in Wellington, is in its eighth year of collecting gifts to give to youngsters aged up to 18.

But founder Gill Harrison told the Wellington Weekly: “The cost of living crisis has meant this year people cannot afford to give us much.

“It is a bit tougher this year to get the gifts to distribute and yet the actual requests we receive have increased.

“It has been absolutely fine other years, no problem. People are incredibly generous, but people are struggling this year and finding their finances do not stretch so far.

“But we will do what we can.”

Ms Harrison said gifts had already been wrapped and sent to five or six different organisations for distribution at Christmas.

“We have made a dent in it and it is still only mid-November,” she said. “I am hopeful. There is always hope, because it is traditionally a generous community around here.”

The charity, which also supports children in the Taunton area, started in 2015 by distributing about 500 gifts, and last year it gave 6,000 presents to nearly 1,500 youngsters across the area.

It works with about 50 organisations to identify young people who need its support, including with the Wellington One Team, health visitors, schools, foodbanks, the women’s refuge, and social services.

The deadline for organisations to make nominations was closing last Friday so the charity will shortly know how many children will go on this year’s list.

Collection points for gifts are located in Wellington’s Co-operative supermarket, in Fore Street, and in the reception area of Wellington Sports Centre.

“If anybody can donate anything however small, we would be really, really grateful,” said Ms Harrison.

“We are particularly low on gifts for teenagers, both boys and girls, in the 13 to 18 years range.

“We aim to give a Christmas gift to every child aged 0-18 years living in difficult circumstances in the Taunton and Wellington community.”

Ms Harrison said only new and age-appropriate gifts were given out, and any financial donations were put back into the project and used for wrapping paper, gift tags, and gifts for age groups where the charity might be short.

As well as a six-strong core team who help with planning, the Christmas Sparkle Project is supported by dozens of community volunteers of all ages from 12 years to 70-plus, including Duke of Edinburgh Award students, who help to wrap the presents.

Last weekend it had 25 people join a wrapping session in the Old Hub Cafe, in Victoria House, Taunton, which Summerfield Developments provides free of charge each year.

Three more wrapping sessions are planned for November 26 and December 4.

My Day Care Services, which supports adults with learning disabilities, picks up gifts from the collection points and also transports them to the organisations which distribute to the children on behalf of the charity.

Anybody who wants to help with wrapping presents can either visit the charity’s Facebook page for instructions or email to [email protected].