Special Christmas delivered

More than 950 children and their families who live in some of the most disadvantaged areas of Fife were able to enjoy Christmas else thanks to an appeal by charity The Cottage Family Centre, supported by a team of volunteers including staff from CMS Window Systems.

The 2017 Christmas Appeal received generous donations from people and businesses across Fife, which were collected and organised into hundreds of food crates and bags of new toys, children’s clothing and other gifts for delivery to families who struggle to make ends meet.

Key to the success of this huge logistical and distribution operation were the volunteers who sorted and planned deliveries, the storage space, and the vans to get crates and bags to families, on one single day just before Christmas.

As with previous Christmas appeals, CMS Window Systems played a key role – in addition to providing warehousing space at its Kirkcaldy site and vans from its fleet, staff from the company joined an army of volunteers, including former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah, to provide essential hands-on support.

CMS has supported The Cottage Family Centre charity for many years in its work to aid families and individuals who are vulnerable to social exclusion as a result of factors such as poverty, low paid employment, poor housing, relationship breakdown, drug and alcohol problems, and health-related issues.

The Cottage Family Centre’s service manager Pauline Buchan who organised the day said: “We believe that no child should wake up on Christmas day without something new to call their own, making our Christmas Appeal so important. We are extremely grateful to have the ongoing support of CMS as it is critical to ensuring we can continue to provide vital assistance to the most disadvantaged in our communities.”