Christmas with Social Bite in 2019

It was a jolly busy Christmas at Social Bite this year. Having just recovered from WBSO, launching our Itison Christmas Campaign, organizing presents, donations and Christmas dinners – two extra this year – there was hardly time to breathe for some.

Social Bite’s Annual Christmas campaign with itison proved once again that there is no shortage of generosity and goodwill in Scotland.  This campaign enables Social Bite to provide food and presents to those attending our own festive events, as well as support other organisations in spreading the Christmas cheer.

Thousands of pounds worth of gifts were given out in addition to other generous donations of hats scarves, clothing, toiletries, cinema vouchers and Christmas cards.

Many of the clothing donations and the Christmas Cards were collected for us by Colin of “Homeless at Christmas” and redistributed by Social Bite to other organisations.

Among our regular donors are Knitted, in East Lothian and Mackies, in Kilmarnock who provide knitted socks, woolen hats and scarves every year. Hairdressers Toni and Guy are also loyal supporters and gave more than 40 free haircuts just before Christmas.

Normally rather reserved about what we do, this Christmas we decided to photograph activities and share them with those who have supported us, so they know the difference they are making.

In addition to our own cafes, we had two extra-large Christmas dinners to cater for as well – one in Livingston on 23rd December and one in Dalkeith on 24th December. The Dalkeith event arose as a result of the Women’s Supper we have been conducting there since October, and the Livingston one a request from MP Hannah Bardell.

No presents were required for the Livingston event. That had been taken care of by former Kaiam workers who had lost their jobs last Christmas and been helped at that time by Social Bite. They wanted to show their appreciation by doing their own Pay It Forward for this community event.

Wherever the event, it was a happy festive time which brought a lot of joy to those who attended and thanks to our Itison Campaign and the generosity of our supporters and donors we were able to spread that goodwill around other organisations and their clients.