Fill the Bus tally expected to exceed previous years

Rotorua has helped fill a bus to the brim with goods as part of the Rotorua Daily Post Christmas Appeal but just how much has been donated is yet to be revealed.

The Hits Fill the Bus was out and about for 12 hours on Wednesday collecting non-perishable food for the Salvation Army Foodbank.

The bus visited businesses, schools and locals and all of the items collected will go towards the

Rotorua Daily Post

Salvation Army Foodbank Christmas Appeal, which aims to restock the organisation's foodbank in time for Christmas and 2019.

Salvation Army corps officer Ralph Overbye said Fill the Bus was a vital part of the appeal.

Image 1 of 20: Fill the Bus. Ann Hotson at the Redwood Shopping Centre.

"It's a big chunk of what we receive during the appeal.

"The day has been phenomenal. We won't know until we've counted everything but it seems like we've got at least as much as last year."

Rotorua filled the bus! Photo / Andrew Warner

While the final tally isn't yet known, last year 5357 food items and 1126 toys were donated. In 2016 the food items donated tallied 4298.

The Hits 97.5 radio announcer Paul Hickey said he had been overwhelmed by the generosity.

#LIVE: The donated goods from today's Fill the Bus being counted at the Salvation Army right now! Thank you so much Rotorua you are awesome!!

Posted by Rotorua Daily Post on Tuesday, 4 December 2018

"We're yet to get the final figure but it's just been fantastic, from schools, businesses, community groups to individual families, it's the kind of thing everybody's getting involved in."

Hickey said a lot of canned items had been donated but there was also coffee, Weetbix, even toilet paper.

He said donors were happy to have done their bit to help.

The bus stopped at 20 locations around the city including several schools and supermarkets. Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Reesby again donated the use of a bus.