Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to acknowledge the huge effort of my local community and to thank those that donated to our local Christmas appeal. Over the Christmas period, my office acted as a drop-off point for donations designed to help families in need at Christmas time, which can be a difficult time of year. In the months leading up to Christmas, my office was filled with donations of toys, gifts, food, toiletries and animal food. There were so many kind and thoughtful donations that brightened the Christmas morning for many struggling families—toys for young children, such as brand-new bicycles and handmade stuffed animals, gifts for mums and dads such as new bottles of perfume and 'Best Ever Dad' mugs. There were also incredible amounts of food donated that would help to make the Christmas period a bit easier for families who may not have been able to put food on the table. It was not forgotten by the community that Christmas is also a difficult time for many animals, and a huge amount of animal food and other items were donated so that we could help the RSPCA.

Each day during the appeal, my staff and I continued to be overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of so many in our local community. I want to sincerely thank all of those who contributed, in particular the individuals and families who brought in donations. Many of these people were not well-off themselves but gave what they could to help those less fortunate.

I also want to mention a number of community groups and businesses who rallied together and donated. These included the Noarlunga SES, Goodstart Early Learning Child Care Centre in Young Street at Sheidow Park, Woodend Children's Centre, Southern Montessori School, the 50 plus Activity Club, Morphett Vale Tennis Club, Hallett Cove Chemplus and the Oasis Family Church. The efforts of these organisations were also astounding. Just to give the House an example, the families and staff from Woodend Children's Centre beautifully wrapped gifts for children so that they could open a surprise on Christmas morning. The Noarlunga SES not only donated toys but also donated hundreds of dollars of gift vouchers that went to families with older children, who may have wanted something special. The children's council at Southern Montessori School organised and coordinated hundreds of donations from students and families. This was an enormous effort, and I would like to thank those that also support people in need: Anglicare, The Vines Uniting Church, St Vincent de Paul Society, Noarlunga Centre, Junction Australia and the RSPCA Australia. These are organisations that I was able to partner with to ensure that we made those in our community's Christmas a little bit brighter. Thank you to everyone. It was a great success.