Hello Summer!
Monday 3rd June - Friday 26th of July
In our 30th year, we are inviting you to join us in June and July to say “Hello Summer!”
This year's Summer campaign at Start Up Stirling is all about welcoming Summer, and marking our 30th anniversary with some birthday parties.
We are saying hello to Summer a little earlier this year, as we are inviting our friends in the community to support us with crisis food donations before the children and young people go on their Summer holidays, so we can provide extra support for them throughout their break. 2023 was our busiest year ever, with the equivalent of 146,000 meals being provided. We really need your help to boost our food stocks.
How you can help
By providing food donations
We need to support people in need 52 weeks of the year, and that doesn’t stop because the sun is out. We have a Summer Shopping List with the items that we need most to boost our supplies. This is a time when we traditionally tend to receive fewer donations, but need to increase the food support that we provide during the Summer holidays. Any donation, large or small, makes a big difference to the people that need support from our Crisis Food service.
Please help us by making a donation at our donation stations across the area, or dropping your items off at our Warehouse. For larger donations, please ring our office on 01786 561027, for more information.
By providing school bags and stationery
Thanks to the success of the Appeal over the past few years, we are again asking for donations to provide school bags and their contents so that we can ensure that children go back to school after their Summer of Fun with a brand new school bag, giving them a great start to their new term at school. There is an Amazon wishlist to provide some ideas, or you can select some items from the school bag shopping list below to donate via our donation stations throughout the area.
"I would like to thank you very much for the school bags you gave me for my 3 kids. My daughter absolutely loved her Peppa Pig bag; she can't stop looking at it. I was worried about getting new bags for them and thought we would need to use last year's one, so this was great."
By hosting a Donation Station during the Summer Campaign
We would be happy to provide a small donation station for you to collect food and school supplies during the campaign. Please contact for more information.
We have double sided shopping lists with details of the most wanted food items over the Summer, as well as details about school bags and their contents. If you know of any shops and community spaces where the shopping lists could be displayed, please get in touch.
By providing a financial donation
We are also inviting financial donations to support our Hello Summer! campaign during the Summer break. This can be on a one-off basis, or you may decide to become a regular monthly giver, to help us to support people in need with our services throughout the year. If you can Gift Aid your donation, we receive an additional 25% of the value from the Government, at no additional cost to you.
Summer Fundraising Events
Tesco Food Donation days - Thursday 27th and Friday 28th June
Tesco Stirling Superstore in Wallace Street, Stirling are hosting a 2 food donation days for Start Up Stirling, from 10am until 4pm, so please come along and find out more about our Summer campaign, and pop a donation into our trolley.
Legends at the Monument Coffee House - 31 days of scones and Braveheart Bears for 30 years of Start Up Stirling - throughout July
Lovely Legends are donating 50p from each scone sold from the coffee house this July. They will also donate £1 from the sale of each of their furry chum Braveheart Bear as their featured product at the gift shop. https://www.legendsatthemonument.co.uk/
Plumbase Stirling Charity Trade Market - Friday 19th July
Plumbase are supporting Start Up Stirling with their trade market, based at 2B Broadleys Industrial Park, Kerse Road, Stirling, from 8am - 2pm. There will be 35 trade stalls, a barbeque and a raffle.
Follow us on Social Media
The more that our posts are shared on Facebook the more that we can spread the word about what we do, and how we support people who really need our help this Summer. Please join our Facebook page. Hello Summer hashtags are #hellosummer #localsupportlocal, so look out for our posts.
Have a great Summer, and help us to make it a fun one with birthday parties and outings for the people that we support.
We hope to see you all soon.
Julie and Carol
Start Up Stirling Fundraising Team