Many charities have felt the pinch in the almost two years since the arrival of Covid-19, with most seeing fundraising grind to a halt.

The pandemic itself then resulted in many of those causes being in demand more than ever.

One such charity is North Wales Superkids.

While the group works throughout the year on various projects, their biggest and most well known is their annual Christmas toy appeal.

Catching up with founder and trustee, Margaret Williams, it's fair to say this has been one of the hardest years so far.

She said: "This Christmas has been extreme. We filled and sent out 2,577 bags.

"I actually thought it might have been even more based on the amount we were being asked to help in the four weeks in the run up to Christmas.

"We've had all the usual reasons people need our help - benefits going pear shaped, low income families struggling since the £20 cut, additional fuel costs, price of food, never mind presents.

"But there were some reasons for our help that were on the rise.

"One of the main ones was domestic violence, and that has been very hard.

"Maybe where a parent has had to leave the house because of violence, or kicked out or moved away.

"Out of spite some partners have sold or returned presents that had already been bought for Christmas."

With decades of working in social care before setting up Superkids, Margaret is all too familiar with such cases.

But 2021 saw her tough front crack.

She said: "It has been so emotionally challenging. I've never known me to break down, you have to distance yourself from sad situations.

"But this time there have been quite a few cases that have reduced me to tears.

"Some were so hard to even think about how these children were coping.

"There were quite a few families where a parent, single or one of a couple, has died either because of covid-related illness or because of not having had certain treatment as a result of covid.

"A lot of children were waking up on Christmas missing a parent. And that I really, really did struggle with. It has been horrendous."

It's a great team at Superkids and they help each other through the quite bleak reality of what they're doing.

But Margaret was keen to thank all who have supported them.

She said: "If it hadn't been for the community and local businesses, we would not have managed to help the children this year.

"Not being able to fundraiser for two years itself has been a crippler.

"I cannot praise the generosity enough. From those holding collection point to those who donated a gift, or supported us in anyway.

"Without them we couldn't do this. And the children all deserve at the very least a happy, reasonable Christmas."

While a lot of the focus at Superkids is on the festive season, they have other projects throughout the year, and work for Christmas 2022 is already underway.

If you would like to support the charity, you can make a donation via their JustGiving page at justgiving.com/nw-superkids or register for their weekly Lottery Superdraw at lottosuperdraw.org/superkids/