Ucare emergency relief officer Donna Van Poorpen and Woolworths service supervisor Deb Trigg areleading a toy drive to create hampers for families doing it tough this Christmas. PHOTO: Jesse Neill
JESSE NEILL
A GAWLER woman is ensuring local, disadvantaged families can celebrate the festive season with gifts on Christmas morning.
In partnership with UCare Gawler, Woolworths service supervisor Deb Trigg approached her manager with an idea for a toy drive to help out those doing it tough over Christmas.
Woolworths Gawler store manager Jonathan Wellesley- Davies said Ms Trigg wanted to use Woolworths’ platform to have a bigger impact.
This Christmas Deb – our family champion – had the wonderful idea to also collect toys for children in our local area,” Mr Wellesley-Davies said.
“We hope to collect enough toys so no child in the local Gawler community will go without this Christmas.
“It’s important to our team, who are mainly from Gawler and close surrounds, to give back to our local community.”
U Care Gawler provides disadvantaged families in the greater Gawler and Barossa area with Christmas hampers and are specifically looking for toys for children under 12 years old.
The Woolworths toy drive is one of almost a dozen businesses and organisations that have jumped on board with their own initiatives to support UCare’s Christmas hamper cause.
UCare Gawler emergency relief officer Donna Van Poorpen said, having been through difficult times during Christmas, made her appreciate community heroes like Deb.
“I’ve been in the position where I couldn’t afford gifts for my family and I’ve been homeless before and had to ask for help,” she said.
“It’s a really tough thing to do but services like this have really helped me when I’ve needed it.
“I was so happy when I received a Christmas hamper and was able to give something to my kids that year.
“It’s great to be able to play a part in giving back to that, but I’m truly inspired by people in our community like Deb who start projects like this through their own initiative.”
Those who would like to support Deb and UCare can do so by taking an age tag off the Christmas tree in front of Woolworths Gawler and placing a gift under the tree that is suitable for the age group on their tag.
Gawler Woolworths is located at 2 Commercial Lane (behind Murray Street) and residents have until Monday, December 16 to donate.
