Christchurch Presbyterian women are organising Christmas cheer for the families of prisoners.
The Association of Presbyterian Women’s Christchurch presbyterial will again this year donate hampers to Pillars, which is a charity that supports prisoners’ children and their families through volunteer mentors, social workers and other support services.
Last year, the group filled four cars with their hampers. Mary Stewart, Christchurch presbyterial’s parish and community convenor, says the Pillars staff were overwhelmed by the delivery.
Mary says APW is particularly strong in Christchurch. Monthly meetings featuring a guest speaker attract about 50 people.
After having a speaker from Pillars at a monthly meeting several years ago, the group sent some toys as part of their usual Christmas drive in support of several charities.
Last year, the economic climate meant they decided hampers would be more appropriate, and that they would support only Pillars.
“We had a wonderful response from our parish groups,” Mary says, so decided to repeat the exercise this year.
The hampers are made up of basic groceries with a few luxury Christmas items. They will be delivered in late November, so that they can be passed on to the families in plenty of time for Christmas.
Waihao Co-operating, a small parish in South Canterbury, has set its youth group a big task.
The group of 25 young people will fill 50 shoeboxes with gifts to send overseas for Christmas, as part of the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child programme, which delivers more than 300,000 boxes from New Zealand and Australia to South East Asia and the South Pacific.
The boxes can include educational gifts, soft toys, clothing, and other useful items like toothbrushes, with New Zealand boxes sent to the Solomon Islands and Fiji.
Waihao’s Kathy McCulloch says the church has participated for the past four years, and uses a mid-winter Christmas dinner and games night to kickstart the donations.
Nearby Timaru is the collection point for the South Island, and Kathy is hoping to take the youth group on a trip to help sort through all the shoe boxes.