General News
16 November, 2023
Kmart’s Christmas appeal launches
Ensuring this Christmas is indeed a merry time for all, Kmart has kicked off its annual gift collection drive, delivering 36 years of festive cheer for families doing it tough. The supermarket’s Wishing Tree Appeal is running from now until...
Ensuring this Christmas is indeed a merry time for all, Kmart has kicked off its annual gift collection drive, delivering 36 years of festive cheer for families doing it tough.
The supermarket’s Wishing Tree Appeal is running from now until December 24 — with the Maryborough community encouraged to donate presents for all those in need.
Last year, the local store received more than 600 donations from the public, which was a remarkable achievement according to the shop’s operations manager Jackie Sweet.
“The 2022 appeal went really well and we’re hoping that this year we can smash that record too,” she said.
“I think it’s important to do this every year because there are families that need extra help and this helps make life easy for them.
“Everything is so tough these days, interest rates have gone up, so we just need to dig deep and help local households in our community. If people can donate a gift that’s fantastic but if they’re finding it really hard to do so, even the littlest thing could help — we just want to bring a smile on children’s faces during Christmas.”
The store suggests donating items like gift cards, books, sporting equipment, back to school supplies, things related to arts and crafts, headphones, educational toys, toiletries or musical instruments.
The presents will then be distributed with the help of the appeal’s partnering organisation, The Salvation Army.
“Christmas is an interesting time, it’s joyful for many but for others it’s quite a sad time, and more so this year because people have been doing it tough,” Maryborough Salvation Army captain Ronald Stobie said.
“Our hope for this year is to bring that festive cheer to everyone — if we can have a Christmas where people who are going through hardships are able to have a full day of joy, then I think that’s a job well-done. If people are in a position to be able to share that Christmas cheer with others, we invite them to do that, we’d love for people to donate.”
Residents can donate in multiple ways including purchasing a gift and putting a tag on it then placing it under the wishing tree in the store; adding a monetary donation to transactions on the self-serve registers; donating online at Kmart.com.au; or by scanning the QR code on the wishing tree stand or in-store.