By Mikayla Van Loon
Christmas came early for a number of children supported by Anchor thanks to the overwhelming generosity of the community who gave a gift to the Rotary Club of Lilydale’s Wishing Tree.
Handing over the gifts to the staff at Anchor on Tuesday 5 December, all were incredibly grateful knowing the people they work with would get a present no matter their circumstances.
Expanding to reach pretty much every child and teenager Anchor supports already, either in counselling or homelessness, this year enough gifts were received to ensure families who may reach a tough spot closer to Christmas can also select a present.
“For presents and food hampers, usually you have to get your name on a list in September but most people, especially crisis clients, don’t know they’re going to be in crisis in September,” Talia said.
“One of the things last year and again this year that’s really made me feel a bit more confident is just knowing that we will have people come through over the next couple of weeks and we will have people coming a couple of days before Christmas and because of the community’s generosity and [Rotary’s] effort, we actually will have some things for them at that point too,” Anita said.
Laying out over 1000 gifts that had been donated in their lounge room, project organisers Gerry and Anne Van Horick invited Anchor staff to come and essentially ‘go shopping’ for presents.
Being able to select specific items, Anita said it was wonderful to know they “were exactly what some of the children had asked and hoped for”.
With the financial situation many people are facing, Gerry said “given the circumstances, people’s generosity has been overwhelming”.
Places like Genesis Health and Fitness received a donation of 10 children’s bikes, while Heritage and Heritage Funerals donated two cars worth of items.
Not to mention Lilydale Library’s book sale raising over $700 in vouchers to help reach this year’s total of over $2000.
“People have been able to put smiles on a lot of kids’ faces,” Gerry said.
For the businesses behind the present gathering, they too were surprised by the continued generosity of people in the community.
Cire’s Community Education Manager Jenelle Strachan said with the three Cire hubs collecting gifts this year, it became clear that where people could donate, they did.
“A lot of people are doing it tough, everyone can understand where people are coming from. So I suppose if they have something to give, they want to give it because they know the cost of living is through the roof, and there are kids out there who will miss out or not get very much for Christmas,” she said.
“Some parents have to choose between a roof over the child’s head and food on the table as opposed to a beautiful gift they can get. So I think this year, what I found more heartwarming is the gifts that people gave.”
Gerry said despite some businesses being able to exceed last year, other’s really struggled, showing the impact costs are having on everyone this year.
“Charity begins at home, so if they can’t afford stuff for their own kids, it’s highly unlikely they’re going to buy something for someone else, which is understandable,” Rotary member Barb Lawrence said.
For Jenelle, knowing the gifts would be staying locally makes all the difference to supporting the cause.
“It gave the community something to be involved in and also to know the gift they’re buying and they’re giving, is going to go to children in the local area, I think that’s important,
“With other wishing trees, as amazing as they are, you don’t know where the gift goes. So knowing these are local families that are going to benefit from them, it’s fantastic.”
