(From left): Colleen Patterson, Ray Simpson, Rose Foley and Wendy Simpson with many of the toys that residents of the Regency Park Estate Lifestyle Retirement Village collected for the appeal. Photo / Mead Norton
(From left): Colleen Patterson, Ray Simpson, Rose Foley and Wendy Simpson with many of the toys that residents of the Regency Park Estate Lifestyle Retirement Village collected for the appeal. Photo / Mead Norton
From teddies, to games, to books - there are toys and treasures of all sorts for children this Christmas, thanks to the collection efforts of Rotorua retirees.
Regency Park Estate Lifestyle Retirement Village residents have been collecting toys for the Rotorua Daily Post Christmas Appeal.
The appeal, run in conjunction with the Rotorua Weekender and The Hits Rotorua 97.5FM, is calling for people to donate what money or food items they can afford to the Rotorua Salvation Army Foodbank ahead of Christmas this year.
People can also donate toys for families to use as gifts.
Regency resident Wendy Simpson said the village wanted to collect toys for the appeal as they thought there would be many children not receiving gifts from Santa this year.
Simpson said she was an ex-teacher and knew there were many children who, for reasons including Covid-19 and the cost of living crisis, may not get anything for Christmas. This was because there were more urgent things parents needed to spend their money on.
“We hope it brings some happiness,” Simpson said.
By putting the word out through the village’s newsletters, many residents got behind the appeal and have donated toys and gifts for kids aged between one and 12.
And what do some of these treasures include? Games, soft toys, books, a hand-knitted doll, sports equipment, car toys, hats and a beautiful brand-new girls’ watch, to name a few.
Simpson said everyone was happy to get behind the cause, and they were blown away with the response and items collected.
Fellow resident Ray Simpson said they had started off with a little cardboard box for the collections, but soon had to move on to a big plastic box, of which there are now two.
Resident Colleen Patterson said: “A lot of us enjoy buying toys because our grandchildren are all grown-up; it’s great fun.”
Resident Rose Foley said there were no wrapped toys because she had read that sometimes the parents liked to have the joy of wrapping the gifts themselves.
In previous years, the village had done food collections for the appeal. They said they challenged all the other villages to get behind the cause, too.
This year, the appeal comes at a time when many are struggling with a cost of living crisis. While food and money are welcomed, anyone wanting to help but struggling with this can consider donating their time.
Roll on Fill the Bus
Fill the Bus public drop-off times.
The Hits Fill the Bus will be rolling around the city today, with a bus visiting schools, early childhood education centres, businesses, and public drop-off stops to pick up donations for the Rotorua Daily Post Christmas Appeal.
The Hits Rotorua presenter Paul Hickey will be on the bus all day from 7am until 6pm, and will be doing his radio show live from 9am to 3pm, chatting to lots of locals who make donations.
Hickey previously said that over the past seven years, Fill the Bus has collected more than $85,000 worth of food for the cause, and the aim this year is to crack the $100,000 mark.
