Rotorua Daily Post Christmas Appeal: Quota Rotorua donates toys to Salvation Army

Quota Rotorua members Jill Boyle (left), Lorraine Moore, Gael Kelly, Betty Milligan, Angela Quaife and Salvation Army corps officer Kylie Overbye. Photo / Supplied

Just a week remains in the Rotorua Daily Post Christmas Appeal and the generosity of the community has not wavered.

The appeal aims to help the Salvation Army Foodbank give more than 200 food parcels to families in need this Christmas as well as ensure the shelves are well stocked for next year.

Now, thanks to Quota Rotorua, many of those parcels will include something special to help put smiles on children's faces.

Quota Rotorua, a service organisation in which members meet regularly and find ways to give back to their community, has donated a collection of toys to be included in the Christmas parcels.

Co-president Betty Milligan said Quota gave to a group every year and the Salvation Army was as worthy a cause as any.

In the past it has given to prisoners' children and Women's Refuge.

"It's always pleasing, they say you get more out of giving than receiving and that's true. It was a really nice thing to do and we all felt good about it.

"There's 24 members in the club and some brought two parcels. They were all labelled as to what age group and gender they were for."

Milligan said Quota Rotorua had been active for 43 years. She has been involved for 42 of those, and it was all about supporting the community as well as spending time with like-minded people.

"We are a service club, it is open to men but it's mainly women. We do fundraisers, which obviously went by the board this year with Covid, but usually we get together and raise money through a Mahjong tournament and a fashion parade called Spring into Summer.

"We also meet once a month and have dinner together so for the members it's social as well as fundraising."

The Rotorua Daily Post Christmas Appeal runs until December 19.

As of the start of November, the Salvation Army Foodbank had already distributed 1062 food parcels this year - more than double the 446 it gave last year.

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