Meet Toowoomba Christmas hamper champions
This year, as cost-of-living hits home, young and old, businesses and religious organisations have dug deep to bring Christmas joy to those less fortunate. Meet the champions making sure no one misses out:
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As cost-of-living hits home, businesses, churches, organisations and individuals around the region have dug deep to bring Christmas joy to families and children who might be missing out.
While the holidays should bring cheer, for many, it is a time of hardship – whether that’s families unable to afford a Christmas spread or spoil their kids with gifts, rough sleepers, individuals who live alone or have lost loved ones, or those fleeing domestic violence.
For the last month, schools, churches, charities, and businesses have banded together filling up thousands of buckets, laundry baskets, shopping trolleys, trucks, and handcrafted sacks to give to those in need.
For a number of services, requests overwhelmingly doubled, only to kick off the generosity of Toowoomba’s community.
It’s moments like this where the city lives up to its status as one of the most generous cities in the state.
This Christmas, more than 4000 hampers have been given out to families or individuals who would otherwise miss out on a bit of Christmas cheer.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Hope for our Children
Tripling their gifts this year, Hope for our Children ended up giving 603 gifts out to children in residential care, up from 250 last year.
“I didn’t know if we could pull it off,” admin officer Selena Protheroe said.
Schools, kindies, local churches and a ladies sheds in Pittsworth were just a few of the organisations that pulled together to collect and give out gifts.
With everyone feeling the pinch at Christmas, Ms Protheroe said even struggling families found ways to give, and in turn, were getting a chance to teach their kids the importance of giving to those less fortunate.
“Christmas is a special time and it saddens my heart to think that there are children who don’t have the merry Christmas many of us get to have,” Ms Protheroe said.
Hamper/gift count: 603
St Vincent de Paul
Perhaps one of the most well-established church charities in this region, the St Vincent de Paul Society estimates between 700 – 1000 hampers will be delivered across the Darling Downs this Christmas.
As part of their logistic organisations, each volunteer-run conference will collect donations, organise packing and distribute hampers to people within their locality.
This year St Anthony’s Primary School in Harristown collected and packed almost 60 hampers for distribution to the local community.
These hampers will go to people “who are less fortunate to make them feel happy and included in this season”, St Anthony’s student Sophia Senagan said.
“It makes you happy inside to know that someone is getting a gift this season.”
Sophia and her classmate Charlotte Edward helped organise the school to donate items for the hampers, and then helped pack them.
“It makes me feel happy to know that other people are happy and can feel good over the Christmas period,” Charlotte said.
Gathering together the hampers is a great way for kids to learn about the importance for caring for others who are less fortunate than them, St Anthony’s assistant principal Aaron Wells said.
Hamper/gift tally: 1303
Downs Motorcycle Sporting Club Toy Run
This year the heat drew the crowds of biking enthusiasts dressed up in Christmas cheer, from cotton Christmas pyjamas to full Santa suits, while tinsel wrapped up bike handles or the occasional mischievous elf on the shelf held on for dear life in the back seat.
“This time of the year everyone is doing it a bit tough, and we like to give back and help out those who go without,” Downs Motorcycle Sporting Club toy run organiser JJ Rodgers said.
The annual toy run draws motorcyclist members from clubs around the region, and this year 203 motorcyclists participated.
In the financial year, St Vincent de Paul supported more than 35,000 locals, a 23 per cent increase on the year before, St Vincent’s representative David Harpham said.
The run managed to collect four full bins, or one truck “chookas full of toys”, said Mr Rodgers.
Hamper/gift tally: 1303 + four bins of toys
Loads of Love
In the face of its own adversity, Toowoomba’s annual Christmas Appeal by Loads of Love managed to collect 1500 hampers this year after struggling to find the support to keep going.
However, when the community got wind of what was happening, more than 60 business jumped to action and managed to pull together more 1000 hampers for the community.
The response from businesses was “quite remarkable”, committee member Dave Russell said.
Another committee member, Emily O’Sullivan, encouraged others to put their support behind the initiative next year.
“We’d love as many businesses to come on board and help our community,” Ms O’Sullivan said.
“It just takes the pressure off families doing it tough.”
Hamper/gift tally: 2803 + four bins of toys
Salvation Army
It has been a record year which has stretched Salvation Army resources to provide assistance to families across the region.
The church is a point-of-call throughout the whole year, so coming into the season, the frontline workers anticipated the increase in need, Salvo’s community engagement worker Natalie Hodson said.
Last year they had 228 hampers, this year they aimed for 300.
Food was the item most requested, Ms Hodson said.
“Presents for the kids are an important part of Christmas but having some food on the table remains to be top priority for families,” she said.
Each package includes a present for each child, a large food hamper, and a small plant.
“We are helping more people who are in this position for the first time ever due to the current cost-of-living crisis,” she said.
“As frontline workers assisting those in need year-round, we have seen how things have shifted over the last few years for all Australians.
“It’s not something we hope to have to do but we are glad that we do get to assist people with a brighter Christmas.”
“Whether giving a small gift, a financial donation or of your time, giving is just such an important part of what this time of year is all about,” she said.
Giving and caring for others, no matter how big or small helps to give everyone the Christmas they deserve, she said.
Despite the extra effort, Ms Hodson said if she can make “a dark time just a little brighter for someone, I need to do that”.
Hamper/gift tally: 3103 + four bins of toys
Base Services
With collection points around the city, Base Services started building their hampers in November, ready for distribution to those in need all the way up until Christmas, Base Services social worker Tiff Spary said.
This year they have given out 444 hampers, with about 150 going to rough sleepers, she said.
The hampers are customised to each person’s circumstances, whether they are sleeping rough on the street, and need something light to carry, or prefer food vouchers, need gifts for children, or families who might have access to kitchen facilities.
Along with the hampers, Base Services also provides a hot Christmas lunch, and are partnering with St Luke’s Church Hall, opening the doors to anyone in need of a “warm and welcoming space for individuals and families,” Ms Spary said.
“We also visit known spots where homeless people dwell and work with local caravan parks, pubs, and motels where a growing number of families are staying throughout the region due to a lack of available and affordable accommodation.”
One child they helped 19 years ago for Christmas still keeps in touch, sending Christmas cards each day, she said.
“These personal connections remind us of the real difference we can make in someone’s life,” she said.
“It’s these stories that inspire us and give us hope for a brighter future for all.”
Hamper/gift tally: 3547 + four bins of toys
Lifeline
Each year before Christmas a man “around about his 40s” turns up in a ute full of groceries and toys of cricket bats, footballs, and Barbie dolls then drops them off at Lifeline in Toowoomba CBD before heading off.
“I think we got a name this time,” Darling Downs Lifeline admin officer Tracey Crighton said.
“But he wants to stay anonymous, he’s being doing this for years.”
Food hampers are a weekly part of the job for the Lifeline, and they estimate they give out almost 150 a month, with an expected increase in December, but haven’t yet tallied the figures.
Figures from January to October show they have already given out more than 1000, a slight increase from their totals last year.
“Feels like everyone is hunkering down because of the cost-of-living this year,” volunteer Lesley Henry said as she sorted out the hampers.
Apart from giving out more food packages and hampers over Christmas, Lifeline also teams up with The Chronicle, where they Adopt A Family, connecting families who want to give, to those who need help.
More than 30 families have received a food and toy hamper this year from the appeal.
Hamper/gift tally: 3727 + four bins of toys
YellowBridge
At YellowBridge headquarters in Kearneys Springs around 40 volunteers work in a conga line, filling buckets with bonbons, chocolates, and Christmas goodies, before being passed through the door into storage.
The volunteers come from local businesses, are joined by a few Toowoomba local and national politicians to ensure 300 bright yellow buckets will be ready for distribution on Christmas Day.
For the last decade this Toowoomba not-for-profit housing and disability support service has been giving out a yellow bucket of Christmas cheer to individuals who are alone, or might not have anyone to spend Christmas Day with.
“It’s an opportunity for us to check in with them, let them know that somebody cares, and give them some interaction at Christmas,” CEO Adrian Bonica said.
With the help of corporate sponsors like McConachie Stedman accountants, YellowBridge have been able to fill the buckets with items Mr Bonica describes as “extra Christmas trimming”.
Mr Bonica estimates this year they will have given out more the 3000 bucket since they started ten years ago.
If that was a monetary value, he said, it would be almost half a million dollars back into the community.
“This is the time of year when things really do start to hit home for people and people seem to do the hardest,” he said.
“We do things at this time of year to let people know that there are people in the community that do care.”
Hamper/gift tally: 4027 + four bins of toys
The Lighthouse Youth Writers Centre
While ensuring the youth of the city have access and support to books and reading throughout the year, The Lighthouse Youth Writers Centre put together 96 “book bundles” for children who are in the Department of Child Safety’s care this Christmas, and 280 to Millmerran State School.
Each “book bundle” is a carefully curated book selection of about five books, hand picked to match each child’s age and interests, Lighthouse CEO Emma Mactaggart said.
“It’s so they get their own library,” she said.
It’s important to bring back the enduring Christmas tradition of reading a book at the end of the long day, she said.
“Books should be under every Christmas tree.”
The CEO and founder of the youth writers centre said the need for supporting families to engage in reading with their children had been evidenced in her last three years running the organisation.
Lighthouse has donated more than 20,000 books to Child Safety, Youth Justice, the Smith Family and a number of regional Darling Downs schools.
Hamper/gift tally: 4403 + four bins of toys
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