Tayla Nasmith (left) from Nurturing Families with Marissa Bell and some of the presents Auckland families have donated for other children in need this Christmas. Photo / Greg Bowker
Tayla Nasmith (left) from Nurturing Families with Marissa Bell and some of the presents Auckland families have donated for other children in need this Christmas. Photo / Greg Bowker
The Herald is profiling 12 charities awarded $10,000 each from Auckland Airport’s Twelve Days of Christmas community giving tradition. Each grant is thanks to generous travellers who placed unwanted currency into moneyboxes dotted around the terminals in 2024.
This Christmas, a special group has come together with a simple mission: to buy presents for kids across Auckland who would otherwise go without.
The Santa Club matches kids in need with people prepared to buy something special just for them, to ensure they have something to unwrap on Christmas morning.
“Presents aren’t everything at Christmas, but I think when you’re young, you don’t understand why other kids come back from their summer holidays with new things and you don’t,” says the Santa Club’s 24-year-old leader Tayla Nasmith.
“I grew up never having to worry about whether Santa would come and if there would be presents under the tree. But, the difference between me and another child is honestly just luck and the family you are born into,” she says.
Tayla Nasmith (centre) from Nurturing Families with two of her helpers Hannah Lawson (left) and Marissa Bell (right) and presents Auckland Families have donated. Photo / Greg Bowker
Nasmith started the online charity ‘Mummys in Need’ while she was a student at Green Bay High School, providing struggling new mothers with donated baby gear.
It’s evolved to a full-time crisis support service “Nurturing Families” that’s partnered with more than 160 community agencies to supply families in need with essentials for their children. That includes bedding, clothing, toys, and school supplies, as well as emotional support and parenting education.
Nurturing Families helps about 500 children a month, and The Santa Club is an initiative to ensure they were not forgotten at Christmas.
“It will never get easier reading the stories we receive about the hardship some children and families are going through at this time of year.
“I believe all Kiwi children deserve to have a magical Christmas and we are doing what we can to help spread some joy to families where Christmas could be out of reach.”
This year, more than 2000 children have been nominated by community agencies for a Santa Club gift.
“We get told what the kids want, within reason, and match them to a Santa who has signed up to help,” Nasmith says.
“The Santa Club is a community pulling together, and the joy of giving is shared across everyone involved, from the Santa shopping for the gift to the case worker who delivers it to the child who receives it.”
Nurturing Families received a grant as part of the 12 Days of Christmas from Auckland Airport. Photo / Greg Bowker
Thanks to a $10,000 donation from the Auckland Airport’s “Twelve Days of Christmas” community giving programme, that joy is spreading further to gifts for children in larger families that exceed the capacity of the community-matched Santas.
The donation comes from travellers’ spare change and foreign currency deposited in the globe moneyboxes dotted around Auckland Airport throughout the year, and Nurturing Families is one of 12 charities selected by the airport to receive the money.
Auckland Airport chief corporate services officer Melanie Dooney says the donation will help make Christmas as special as possible for as many families as possible.
“As demand continues to rise, particularly from families in crisis, this funding will ensure no child or family that’s been nominated is left without a gift during the holiday season.
“By filling this gap, we can ensure that every family feels included and supported, regardless of size or circumstances,” Dooney says.
