What is Gifts for Kids all about
Providing Christmas gifts for kids who wouldn't otherwise have something to open a Christmas day. And who wouldn't otherwise get to experience a little of the special magic of Christmas.
Why are we doing it?
I don’t know if you've ever imagined what Christmas would've been like if you hadn’t had presents in a stocking or under the Christmas tree to open.
Imagine how you would've felt if there wasn’t even a single present for you to unwrap on Christmas morning.
That’s why we’re doing this.
This is for the kids of families who are struggling and can’t afford (for whatever reason) to buy presents for their children.
A big part of it is being actively involved in the whole process from buying the gifts to wrapping and delivering them.
And the best part is the amazing feeling we get when we see the look on a parents face they realise that they’re going to have presents for their children to look forward to on Christmas day.
To know, on Christmas day, that we made a difference. That a whole bunch of kids got to experience a little of the magic of Christmas. And especially to know that they got to unwrap a present that they wouldn’t have otherwise had.
This is a hands on experience – we’d love to find others who would like to do something along these lines....So we could help even more children.
You need to have the resources, desire and value the feel good that comes with it. But it’s hugely rewarding and well worth every minute.
Click here to view the TV3 news story with Sophie Lowrey on this that ran on Christmas Eve 2014
Who is it for?
This is for the children:
- Who wouldn’t otherwise get to experience a little of the magic of Christmas
- Who wouldn’t otherwise get to wonder what was in their present
- Who wouldn’t otherwise get to experience the anticipation of waking up on Christmas morning knowing they had a present to unwrap
- Who wouldn’t otherwise get to actually unwrap a present
How do we choose the families?
We work closely with Plunket. In the months leading up to Christmas, they ask all of their Plunket nurses in the area, to identify the families that are most in need.
The good news, so far, is we’ve been able to buy gifts for all the kids they've identified each year.
But there are many more, not just in West Auckland, but all over Auckland and all over New Zealand, who could benefit if we had others who were interested in contributing for their local families.
Why Plunket?
Because when we came up with the idea about 4 weeks before Christmas in 2012 and realised we needed help to find the right families
We couldn’t just go and knock on doors to see if someone was in real need
My wife suggested Plunket, I rang their main number and after explaining what we wanted to do they put me in touch with Caro Watts – one of the Clinical Service Managers.
Caro was fantastic in taking this idea on, at such short notice, and making it happen.
The first year we bought and wrapped the gifts and handed them to Plunket to deliver.
The following two years (2013 & 2014) we did it again. This time with more time and planning I was able to go out with Dianna and Lisa-May in the Plunket bus to deliver the gifts.
When and how do we deliver them?
We deliver the gifts to the families in the week leading up to Christmas.
We take a day off work and go out with the Plunket team to help deliver to the families.
It’s one of the special days of the year for us.
What about Christmas 2017?
We’ll be doing it again.
I don’t know if you have ever felt you’d like to do something like this, but weren’t sure where to start
If so, we can help.
There’s plenty more kids who will go without a present to unwrap this year that you could help – we’d love to have others join us.
If you’re interested, we’d love to discuss it with you. Please fill out the contact form or email me
If you get half as much out of it as I have you’ll have a special Christmas like you’ve never had before
And so will a bunch of kids!
Cheers
Campbell and Els
P.S. If you haven't seen it already don't miss out on the TV3 News story from Christmas Eve 2014. Click here to view it
Click here to contact us to find out how you can get more info
Photos by Rae Cliff
