Christmas Box Feeds 52,000 – 78,000 Kiwis

Updated Media Release

1st December 2016

Christmas Box Feeds 52,000 – 78,000 Kiwis.

16, 500 food boxes are being packed as one in ten families struggle to feed their loved ones

The Christmas Box project is going into its 16th consecutive year of helping people at Christmas. On Saturday 3 December at 25 Normanby Road, Mt Eden, over 700 kiwis will wake up early to pack 10,000 Christmas Boxes in Auckland alone, for families they may never get to meet. Many recipients are families who have found themselves in the one in ten category of struggling to put food on the table this Christmas due to the rapid increase in the cost of living.

This year, the Christmas Box team has increased the number of Christmas Boxes by 2,000 and will be packing and distributing 16,500 Christmas Boxes in the following locations on Saturday 3 December:

• 10,000 in Auckland,
• 500 in Whangarei,
• 1,000 in Hamilton,
• 1,500 in Christchurch,
• 2, 500 in Melbourne, Australia

• As well as 1,000 in Rarotonga, Cook Islands on Friday 9 December
Christmas Box is a food box designed to supplement meals for a family of four to six over Christmas, with each box helping with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Christmas Box exists because the team believes no one should be deprived the joy of sharing Christmas with their nearest and dearest, and with this conviction they have seen over 70,000 food boxes distributed to families in need over the last 15 years. The current state of our nation is that 305,000 Kiwi kids live in poverty - that's 29 per cent of children. Christmas Box partners with over 150 government and community agencies including Middlemore Foundation, NZ Police, low decile schools, District Health Boards, Family Budgeting groups, various Women’s Support groups and many others to help identify these families. In assisting to feed families, Christmas Box will help to feed the children.

The project is made possible with major sponsors such as: Nestle, Sanitarium, AB Foods, LIFE, CEVA, Rhema, Life FM and Shine TV. This year, new to the valued pool of sponsors are: The Better Drinks Company (Charlie’s), Logical Toys, The Greenstone Drinks Co. and Haier.

And this year, the Christmas Box team is ramping up the Christmas cheer with the addition of a toy to over half the 10,000 Christmas Boxes packed in Auckland and 1,500 boxes in Canterbury. They arranged for some toys to be sent down to families affected by the Kaikoura earthquakes. They are also working with various community agencies to select six families who will be recipients of a Haier fridge freezer; these will be given in the main centres of Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton and Christchurch. In light of the very recent earthquakes, it highlights how quickly people’s situations can change and unexpectedly require assistance. Each year, the project team ensures that each item selected for inclusion in the Christmas Box will be relevant to the recipients’ circumstances.

“We’re honestly proud to support the Life Centre Trust and Christmas Box in their wonderful work”, says Steve Cook, Group Marketing Manager, The Better Drinks Company.

And Rebecca, a recipient through Kidz First Hospital, said: “I was totally blown away by the fact that someone had taken time to put that box together for us as a family. You know that so many people had come together to produce that box for our family. When you receive something in life, it’s always important to give out, and I think everyone of us have got something to offer someone else.”

Donations are welcomed and for just $30 people can sponsor an entire box, with a retail value of $75.

More information or ways to donate to this year’s campaign is available on the organisation’s website:www.christmasbox.co.nz

ENDS – For immediate release

Further Info:
• Who we work with and who gets a Christmas Box: http://www.christmasbox.co.nz/about-us/who-gets-a-christmas-box
• About Christmas Box: http://www.christmasbox.co.nz/
• About The Life Centre Trust: http://lifecentretrust.org.nz/
• Short Video about Christmas Box: https://vimeo.com/192018207
• Life story of a Christmas Box recipient https://vimeo.com/192018208
• Christmas Box Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/christmasboxproject

© Scoop Media