NEARLY 90 West Fife families have received support from a Dunfermline charity over the winter who have renewed an appeal for donations of pre-loved clothing.

The Children's Clothing Bank Dunfermline is now gearing up for the summer months after providing a massive 183 clothing parcels to people in need in recent months.

Each parcel costs around £35 for the organisation to put together and charity trustee Mary-Grace Smith said they are welcoming donations to help them through the summer months.

“It’s been another busy winter. Over the colder months, we provided 183 clothing parcels to 88 families in the Dunfermline area, which is on a par with the previous winter," she said.

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"It just shows that families are continuing to face the struggle of balancing household bills and rising costs against wages and family budgets.

"Even as a charity, we face similar challenges. We currently spend an average of £35 per clothing parcel, which is largely as a result of the increasing costs of clothing items.

"Around £3 covers our overheads which includes packaging to present the clothing parcels as a gift, but the rest is spent on clothes such as new underwear and pyjamas.”

Mary-Grace said they offer their services all year round and provide seasonally appropriate clothing for those needing it.

"The Dunfermline community has continued to provide us with amazing support, but we need your help again," she said. "Our ethos has always been about reusing pre-loved clothes, but for a whole range of reasons, we’ve seen a drop in donations to our service which means we need to buy more and more stock to meet the ongoing requests for clothing parcels.

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"We can’t emphasise enough just how important donations of pre-loved clothes are to us.

“As we move through spring and into summer, we need to be able to provide lighter clothing, such as shorts, t-shirts and lightweight jackets.

"The recent weather during the school holidays has been nothing short of a wash out, but we’re hoping the sun will make an appearance soon and we want to be ready.

“If you’re sorting through your kids' clothes preparing for the warmer weather, please keep us in mind for anything that your wee ones have outgrown."

The charity has recently received funding boosts from Cash for Kids and the Round Table and is also waiting to hear about a grant application from Scotmid.

“We have a really dedicated team of Trustees and Volunteers who work tirelessly behind the scenes to find funding and keep the service running day to day," added Mary-Grace.

"The fact that we’re still going strong almost four years in is testament to that. We’re completely independent and not affiliated with any statutory service, but our real strength is in the community we’ve created with the volunteers who give us their time, referrers who use our service and the people of Dunfermline who continue to support us.

"If you are a parent or carer who needs our help, please speak to your health visitor, social worker, member of staff at your child’s school, or contact the Dunfermline Welfare Support Team.

"If you’re a support worker working with a family and would like to make a referral, please contact us through our Facebook page and we will send you our referral guidance.”

Anyone with donations can bring them into the charity's Chalmers Street base. Opening times can be found on the Children's Clothing Bank Dunfermline Facebook page.