A group of St Johnstone fans will host a soft toy collection to ensure children have a special gift this Christmas.
Fair City Unity (FCU) is teaming up with local charity Letham4All to gather the toys before this month’s Scottish Premiership fixture against Motherwell at McDiarmid Park.
Supporters attending the match and the wider Perth public are invited down to the stadium’s East Stand anytime between 12-3pm on Saturday, November 12 to hand over their donations.
As well as providing vocal backing at Saints’ games, the Fair City Unity is keen to support their local community.
A spokesperson for the group said: “Giving back to the community we’re all involved in was the main driver and giving young children a bit of happiness on Christmas Day.
“We’re using our platform to try to help coming up for Christmas and in the cost-of-living crisis, which we have highlighted in matches previously.
“We’re hoping that it will not just be people going to the match who get involved. We’re encouraging everybody from across Perth, if they have something to donate, to come down and drop it off.
“You don’t need to be going to the match or be a football fan. It’s about caring for your local community.
“Hopefully it captures the imagination of everyone.”
The soft toys will be collected and then later distributed by Letham4All.
The charity was created to support people to be involved in their community, develop their ideas to improve the health and wellbeing of the area and create positive opportunities for residents of all ages.
Letham4All chairman, Jon Kidd, extended a “massive thank you” to the Fair City Unity and all those who will donate to the soft toy cause.
He told the PA: “Christmas has traditionally been a time of giving and this wonderful effort by Fair City Unity is a great example of that in action.
“The FCU has a well-established history of going beyond simply being a football fan group and putting their collective efforts into the wider community.
“We are delighted that they have chosen Letham4All to benefit from this year’s toy collection.
“Holidays and times of celebration while enjoyable can often be a time of stress and financial worry for many.
“Since we were established in 2018, Letham4All has tried to respond at those times to provide support to those in our community and across Perth and Kinross who might need it.”
Letham4All always go the extra mile for local residents as Christmas approaches.
Jon added: “At Christmas we work with the Perth and Kinross schools network, volunteers across the community, corporate and third sector partners such as Giraffe, PWAMM, Tesco, Co-op, Poundland, Clintons and many more to provide a parcel including Christmas meals, shopping packs of food toiletries and essentials, toys and Christmas items.
“These are delivered by a fleet of volunteers on December 23 to help alleviate some of the worries of the time.
“This year more than any other people will be feeling the pinch so groups like ours across the charity sector will be working extra hard to do what we can.
“We want to extend a massive thank you to the FCU members and everyone who donates to their collection for helping us and our partners to reach as many households as we can this Christmas.”
Ian Flaherty, St Johnstone’s head of operations, told the PA that the soft toy collection was a fantastic idea.
He said: “We are delighted with anything that can bring the club, supporters and the local community together.
“It is fantastic, especially at this time of year coming up to Christmas. We are happy to support and encourage good projects within the community and something that benefits everybody.
“It is absolutely critical that we liaise with supporters, whether young or old. The heart of the club is our supporters and we need to do whatever we can to engage with them.”
