Be Our Guest!

Be Our Guest!

Harvest Appeal 2026

15th September - 11th October

This year, we are holding a Harvest Appeal, due to the rapidly escalating need for food donations. On numerous occasions this Summer, we had to highlight that we needed donations of staple items on social media. Despite this, food donations are still down compared to previous years. 

With our busiest time of year still to come, it’s imperative that we increase our food supplies and get the message out into our communities about the Appeal. Please encourage your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to support us if they can. 

Here are the items that we need most for the Crisis Food Service this Autumn:


If you would prefer to make a financial gift, please donate online. If you are a UK taxpayer, you can choose to add Gift Aid, to make your donation grow by a further 25%, at no additional cost to you.

Tesco Stirling Food Drive Dates - 8th and 9th October

Tesco are kindly hosting us again in October with a food drive this Autumn. If you are doing your weekly shop, please stop and say hello! 

Tesco Blue Token

We were fortunate to be chosen to be one of the charities to take part to win a Tesco Community Grant. The blue token stand is in the Dunblane and Callander stores. The group with the most tokens wins £1,500, with second and third place receiving £1,000 and £500. If you are doing your shopping in either supermarket, please remember to support us, by putting a token in the box. The funds raised will be used to provide healthy meals, fruit, snacks and fresh food for children and young people during their school holidays.

Be Our Guest at the Community Hubs

We are encouraging people to “Be Our Guest” and come along to our Community Hubs in Callander, Killin and Bannockburn for tea, refreshments and a bite to eat as the days get colder. Nothing beats a good chat in lively company, and Gail, our Rural Outreach Worker makes sure that everyone receives a warm welcome. There are also fun activities for people to try, and speakers from different organisations, as well as access to an Advisor from Citizen’s Advice Bureau. The service is free for anyone living in the area to use. If you live locally, why not go along and support the Community Hubs yourself?

Access to a Community Hub has made a big difference to many people’s lives. Here are some of the comments from a recent survey, about why they come to the Hub:

“The hub is a warm and welcoming space. I come to socialise and catch up with people in the community, it’s a total treat to get lunch and drinks.”

“For meeting people and using the services which are great and well needed in rural areas.”

“To socialise & meet new people now I’m retired.”

Let Us Be Your Guest!

As part of our awareness raising this Autumn, we are asking if churches, church groups, clubs and community groups would like us to come along and tell them more about our Community Hubs and the services that we provide to support people living in hardship. Please get in touch if you know a group that would like to add Start Up Stirling to their programme. 

We are happy to provide a presentation without charge, but we would appreciate a food or financial donation if possible, to help to offset our time and mileage costs, and boost our food reserves.

If you are having an Autumn clear out at home…

We are preparing for our upcoming fundraising events over the next few months. Items for raffles, tombolas, prizes for bingo or quiz nights would all be very welcome, as our supplies have become depleted over the Summer months.

If you have any unwanted gift sets, unused presents, or other items hiding in your cupboard at home that you won’t use but someone else would be delighted to win, we’d love to have it!

Whether it’s a bottle of wine, a beauty/toiletries set, chocolates, or any other gifts that you would like to recycle for a good cause, they can be turned into great prizes.

Please let us know if there are any fundraising events that we can be a part of in your area, or you would like to host your own fundraising event, please get in touch by phone on 01786 561027 or email.  


Have a great Autumn! 

If you're unsure about how much to donate, here's a list of common items and services we need to fund. Select what you'd like to contribute.