Rotary Thames is hosting a present drive to bring Christmas joy to those at the local Women’s Refuge.
The project encourages unwrapped gifts that are new or in good condition to be donated to the Christmas tree in the reception area of the Thames-Coromandel District Council (TCDC) office on Mackay St.
Rotary Thames volunteer Monika Lange, who’s piloting the drive, told The Profile she thought the initiative would be “a good idea”.
“I thought why don’t we do something like that for Thames and I spoke to my fellow Rotarians and they thought it was a good idea too so I got some of my friends involved, and then I rang TCDC and spoke to them and they were quite open to it,” she said.
“Rotary Thames always traditionally looks after children and teenagers and I thought Women’s Refuge has a lot of children in there so why not choose Women’s Refuge?
“I then spoke to them and asked about what we were doing and they said they would be delighted.”
Monika said the project, in collaboration with TCDC and her Thames/Coromandel Newsfeed Facebook page, would be open for gift donations until December 23.
“We started on December 5 and we’re hoping to get as many presents as we can for children, teenagers and of course women,” she said.
“I go in every night to check what is there and take them home to make sure there’s not too many under the tree because you don’t want them to be crammed in there because that’s where the traffic for the council is.
“Hopefully on December 23, we will bring it all to the Women’s Refuge.”
Gifts are being dropped off at TCDC’s Thames office as part of Rotary Thames’ toy drive for Women’s Refuge. Photo: GORDON PREECE
