When a gift-laden Santa Claus arrived on a Harley Davidson at a Rotorua emergency housing provider, Daytona Simiona's eyes welled with emotion.
The solo mum and her four children were among hundreds of people living in emergency housing who were recipients of a surprise Santa run.
Rotorua-based social service providersWERA Aotearoa, Lifewise, Visions of a Helping Hand and Emerge Aotearoa came together to see what they could do to make the season special for homeless families.
Together, they are contracted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to manage 12 motels to families with children and provide wrap-around support.
Simiona is a mother of five but lives with four in emergency housing and has done for the last year.
Her children, aged five to 13, were "pretty excited" to see Santa unexpectedly come into the motel followed by elves with gifts, Simiona said.
"I get teary just thinking about it."
Santa and his helpers deliver gifts to Acez Simiona, 5, and 352 other kids in emergency and transitional housing on his motorbike. Photo / Andrew Warner
The presents included Lego, backpacks, lollies, diaries and gel pens, kites, face masks, scooter boards and lipsticks.
As well as the gifts, Deane's team delivered a "night before Christmas goody bag" with reindeer food, hot chocolate, Christmas crackers for Christmas Day and a few food items for their table.
The children said the surprise made them feel "warm and fuzzy, grateful, blessed, happy".
Christmas was a "stressful" time of the year, and while Simiona's children had seen Santa before they had never been given gifts like this by a stranger, she said.
She said the providers had gone "above and beyond" and made the season "pretty special".
Visions of a Helping Hand founder Tiny Deane was one of the elves in two golf carts following Santa on his Harley Davidson, delivering gifts to all 352 children across the nine motels and transitional houses it managed.
Deane said he had never seen so many "teary" people, with many hugs being shared.
"A lot of them don't have the money to do this."
The gifts were made possible through sponsors, with every motel owner donating a large amount of money towards the festive season as well as sponsors in Auckland, he said.
Other families got an extra special Christmas gift this year, with the trust housing 22 families in the last two and a half weeks.
Santa's helpers Ella Hart-Small, 11, and Lilly Winiata, 11, with Visions of a Helping Hand founder Tiny Deane. Photo / Andrew Warner
On average, the trust was putting about 25 families and individuals into housing a month, he said.
Emerge Aotearoa operations manager Toli Maka said several community groups and businesses came together to make sure children and families in emergency housing got a special treat this Christmas.
Previously, one man spent a Christmas by a trolley, a mum couldn't afford to acknowledge any celebrations, and others felt that getting anything was a handout or needed to be begged for.
Maka said some of the stories were "heart-wrenching".
This year, the local Toy World donated a gift for each of the 48 children which would be picked out by age and gender and they would all get goodie bags.
A security company will provide catering on Wednesday with a range of barbecue foods, alongside Mr Whippy, games, a bouncy castle, a bubble machine, music and spot prizes.
The security company will also provide food hamper packs for families in the motels on Saturday.
In the mix of gifts, Zorb donated family passes for those in the motels, Rotorua Canopy Tours donated a voucher for two adults, Rotorua Mini Golf donated two family passes and Redwoods Tree Walk gave one family pass.
Maka said it was "crucial" to add "a bit of cheer this festive season".
Some of the sites had also been donated trampolines, which would allow the kids living in confined spaces to be able to play, she said.
Emergency housing resident Acez Simiona, 5, with his special gift from Santa. Photo / Andrew Warner
Maka said it was all about helping people reconnect with the community and reinstalling hope after living in motels for years.
WERA will give gutterboards to all the children aged over five, as well as a tennis ball with their name on it.
All the under-fives will be given a small ball.
The pools will be opened and this will coincide with a barbecue lunch for all. This will be followed up with swimming lessons for children.
All of the motels WERA managed will have Christmas trees decorated by the children, as well as decorations around the motels.
Ministry of Housing and Urban Development housing supply, response and partnerships deputy chief executive Anne Shaw said Christmas is stressful for those without a place to live.
She said the providers were going the extra mile and HUD was grateful for all they did.
