Katherine Salvos will help hundreds of struggling families yet again this Christmas.
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Across the region, far too many people go without the bare necessities, let alone gifts under the tree and a Christmas lunch, during one of the most expensive times of year.
To bring Christmas joy to families doing it tough the Katherine Salvation Army collects hundreds of gifts and hampers, every year.
The Salvos ‘Santa’ will then deliver them to young children and their families.
The service also provides a Christmas lunch for 150 people who would otherwise go without.
Family support worker at the Katherine Salvation Army, Amelia Harvey, has been working hard for months to collect gifts for children aged zero to 14.
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“There is a very high demand for gifts as there are a lot of people living in poverty and doing it tough. We try to help out,” she said.
“Every year we really just try to bring the spirit of Christmas. There is always so much excitement when we deliver gifts and hampers to families on Christmas eve.
“Sometimes we can even hear the kids ripping into their presents before we have left,” she said.
More than 500 toys have been collected – in part from community donations and contributions to the Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal, and from the annual Katherine Toy Run, which saw vintage cars piled high.
While most of the Christmas presents and hampers – filled with enough food for a Christmas lunch – will be delivered across the Katherine region, some are going as far as Amanbidji, an Indigenous community about 450km away.
“It has been tough to collect enough this year,” Salvation Army Captain, Julie Howard said, “and it is very much needed. There are a lot of families who just cannot afford Christmas.”
“It would be terribly sad if you didn’t have a gift to open on Christmas day, and that is the reality for a lot of families.
“Hundreds of people across the region will benefit,” she said.
Christmas lunch will be held on Christmas day at 12.30pm at the Salvation Army, and anyone is welcome.
“Volunteers come along to help cook and a lot of local businesses and organisations donate food,” Mrs Howard said.
“We are so thankful to the generosity of the Katherine community. With out their help hundreds of people would really struggle through Christmas,” she said.
Eight Katherine organisations work with the Salvation Army to refer struggling families to benefit from the Salvation Army Christmas collection.
While the generosity of Katherine has been outstanding, more gifts are needed for the 12-14 age group.
The community can donate more toys and food at the Woolworths Collection point starting from this Saturday.
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