Bay of Plenty Times Christmas Appeal: Gilmours Tauranga joins as sponsor

Gilmours Tauranga general manager, Graham Kelly, is part of the team getting on board as a partner for the Bay of Plenty Times Christmas Appeal. Photo / George Novak

The power behind the Bay of Plenty Times Christmas Appeal just got a whole lot stronger as Gilmours Tauranga joined the campaign as a sponsor this week.

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Gilmours Tauranga owner Jason Morrissey said he was excited to contribute to the good cause.

He said the wholesale food and beverage supplier had donated goods to the Tauranga Community Foodbank on a monthly basis for a number of years.

"There's no secret that some families are under a lot of pressure at the moment. We saw it as an opportunity to help out the community at a hard time in the year."

The business' involvement in the appeal was meaningful for Jason's wife, Sharon, who was a "big supporter" of the foodbank and had always looked to help out those who were less fortunate.

He said collection boxes would be established at the Gilmours premises in Tauriko and urged people to pitch in and donate some food items.

Gilmours also made a donation to the Christmas Appeal as part of the partnership.

Foodbank warehouse manager and buyer Brendon Collins said Gilmours and the foodbank had worked together for a number of years and it was fantastic to see the business come on board as a sponsor.

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"Gilmours has given us really good pricing, they deliver goods for free and they reserve a stock of items the foodbank frequently buys," he said.

"They've also gone out of their way to give us broken and damaged goods that can't be sold."

Graham Kelly. Photo / George Novak

NZME general manager Bay of Plenty Greg Murphy said NZME had also worked with Gilmours for a number of years.

"The Bay of Plenty Times annual Christmas Appeal is a big project we work on every year and we're really excited to have Gilmours on board to make a difference in the community," he said.

NZME Bay of Plenty regional editor Scott Inglis said it was great that Gilmours was getting involved.

"We're delighted that Gilmours have joined the efforts to raise as much money and food for the Tauranga Community Foodbank during our annual Christmas Appeal."