The Salvation Army Media Release

Public support for Sallies' Christmas food-drive increases by a third

Wellington, 14 November 2007 - The New Zealand public have got into the Christmas spirit by giving almost a third more cans of food than last year in support of families in need.

Members of the public donated 22,130 cans of food around the country as part of this month's 14th Annual Wattie's Cans Film Festival, where people use a can as their ticket to watch a movie. This year's public donations are 32.6 per cent up on last year's figure of 16,685 cans. (Regional breakdowns for this year are given below.)

Salvation Army Public Relations Secretary Major Robert Ross says that the public has shown overwhelming support for the festival.

'The results are particularly pleasing because Wattie's have really come to the party and more than matched public donations by giving an additional 22,449 cans of food. That takes the total cans for the whole country to 44,579.

'This is really an astounding effort by both the public and Wattie's to help people in need at what can be a difficult time of the year for low-income families.

'We would also like to thank the movie theatres that came on board to support the festival.'

Major Ross says that the cans will be added to hampers being prepared by Salvation Army staff around the country and will help thousands of families in need this Christmas.

Enquiries: Major Robert Ross Public Relations Secretary Ph: 04-382-0744 Mobile: 027-449-4540

David Youngmeyer Media Officer Ph: 04-802-6269 Extn 8250 Mobile: 027-200-5366

14th Wattie's Cans Film Festival 2007 Number of cans donated by the public by city

Location No of cans NORTH ISLAND

Kaikohe 756 Greater Auckland 6298 Tauranga 710 Mt Maunganui 415 Hamilton 1758 Rotorua 450 New Plymouth 680 Napier 610 Hastings 805 Hawera 520 Tokoroa 444 Palmerston North 947 Paraparaumu 658 Wellington (includes Porirua & Lower Hutt) 3205

SOUTH ISLAND

Blenheim 440 Christchurch 1796 Timaru 390 Dunedin 643 Invercargill 605

North Island Total: 18,256 South Island Total: 3,874

New Zealand Total: 22,130

ENDS

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