MORE than 1,000 children received food parcels at Christmas thanks to Prestonpans-based Pennypit Trust.

The charity launched the initiative to help those in need in the Preston Seton Gosford, Fa’side and Musselburgh council ward areas.

In 2023, the charity saw a “massive rise” in referrals, surging to about 1,000 children compared to the 700 it helped the previous year.

The trust has been running its festive provision for five years, initially starting in Prestonpans before growing over the years to help more people throughout the Tranent and Musselburgh areas.

Thanks to support from the community, 508 families received support, including 1,018 children and 35 socially isolated individuals.

Parcels were taken directly to those in need thanks to more than 100 volunteers, who came together to get the support to those who needed help ahead of Christmas.

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Ahead of the big day, a spokesperson for the charity said: “A massive thank you to everyone who helped to deliver our jingle bags and Christmas presents.

“It is always heartwarming to see the support our community gives us.

“We had over 1️00 volunteers across Preston Seton Gosford, Fa’side and Musselburgh carrying out deliveries to over 1,000 addresses. We couldn’t support as many people as we do without you.

“Thank you to our amazing staff and volunteers, we have worked so hard in the planning and delivery of our jingle bags and Christmas presents.

“Another thank you must go to Connected Communities teams in PSG and Fa’side for their support this week in making Christmas possible for families and socially isolated in our community.

“On behalf of everyone at the Pennypit Trust, we would like to wish our community a very merry Christmas and happy New Year.”

Simon Davie, Connected Communities manager for the Fa’side area, added: “I wanted to say a massive thank you to all our amazing volunteer drivers who delivered our jingle bags.

“Partnership is a word used a lot these days. I want to say a massive thank you to all the Pennypit Trust staff who constantly go above and beyond for folks in the Fa’side community and to my amazing team as well.

“I also want to thank the Fa’side Area Partnership and our local community councils for helping fund the jingle bags this year.”