Festive angels carry out goodwill cheer

These ladies have Christmas all wrapped up. Clockwise from left, Sharon Anderson, Paula Schwass, Cynthia Hoban, Marion Hazen, Lynette Lindsay, Sharon Terrizzi, Therese Wickbom and Carolyn Smith.

Hundreds of disadvantaged kids will have a brighter Christmas this year thanks to Northlanders' generosity and a Kerikeri-based charity.

The Bald Angels Trust, which last month raised more than $60,000 in a world-record mass head shave, has collected hundreds of gifts at drop-off points in Kerikeri and Paihia over the past few weeks.

The charity has also spent $5000 on groceries and will this weekend carry out a harvest at its community gardens on Kerikeri Rd, where potatoes, lettuce, beans, garlic and other vegetables are ready to be picked.

Volunteers took part in a gift-wrapping blitz on Thursday and sorted the donated presents by age group, from toddlers to 17-year-olds.

The food and presents will be collected from a secret location by police, Women's Refuge, Plunket, Tamariki Ora, Family Start, public health nurses and other social agencies for distribution to the Far North's neediest families.

Organiser Therese Wickbom, of Kerikeri, said the response to the present appeal was bigger every year.

"Even so we can only put smiles on a fraction of needy kids' faces. We'd love to make Christmas better for all struggling families but but there are so many we can't help them all."

Mrs Wickbom said poverty was a serious problem in New Zealand, particularly in the Far North.

"I've seen it with my own eyes and it's heart breaking," she said.

One of the worst examples she had seen was a mother and five children - their father died earlier this year - living in a garage with a dirt floor, no power and no running water.

The children suffered a raft of health problems as a result, she said.