Donations mean no one misses out

Masterton Salvation Army with boxes packed with a Christmas food parcel for needy families. Zara Atkinson, 3, left, Kate Bishop, 7, Maria Hull, Ross Atkinson, 10, Brenda Mallard, Jade Shirkey, Salvati

Masterton has outdone itself this year with Christmas charity giving, says Masterton's Salvation Army minister Lieutenant Daryn Bishop.

Mr Bishop said the outpouring of support towards the Salvation Army's Christmas appeal had been the "best yet" with more supermarkets and agencies jumping on board to help out this year.

The Salvation Army will be driving around town today delivering 80 hampers of food to families in need and more than 150 gifts to children thanks to donations from the Masterton community.

"We normally just have a box per family, but this year we have a supermarket bag for all the frozen stuff too because we've just had so many donations," Mr Bishop said. "So families will get a banana box of food, a grocery bag full of frozen stuff and plus all the toys. I think there's been more donations this year than any other year. And no families missed out.

"The ones that we had come to us, we've made sure everyone's got something. We haven't had to go through and say, 'sorry but we don't have enough'. So that's cool for the community to know that they've given enough to meet the demand, which has been fantastic."

Mr Bishop said Masterton Salvation Army is very blessed and he feels very fortunate to be able to be the middleman in organising the appeal.

"Part of our enjoyment is actually seeing the faces, but we also want to work with families in moving forward," he said. "We don't just want to drop goods at their homes and say, 'see you next year'. We want to work with them and help them move forward.

"It's hard because it's the end of the year and we're all tired but to see all of this stuff come together is just fantastic and well worth it all."