Christmas can be a tough time for children in foster care, and after an especially disruptive and challenging year, a gift can make a world of difference to these kids’ lives during this time.
In light of is, leading up to the 2020 holiday season, Primero proudly teamed up with Perth local charity, Clutterbugs, to support its annual Christmas Gift Appeal. This year, Clutterbugs collaborated with and canvassed gift donations for the foster care arm of Scarborough-based Wanslea Family Services.
Gifts provided to Wanslea were subsequently distributed to children in care at its end of year Christmas celebration. A day that many children look forward to, the celebration keeps themselves as well as their carers connected and provides a lot of joy to children in care.
One Van Load – Hundreds of Happy Kids
Throughout November, Primero’s staff in office manifested their generosity and accumulated a massive stock-pile of brand new gifts for children aged 0-16. The team certainly got creative in their purchases, with donations of all kinds, including hand-knitted crocheted blankets, arts and crafts, books, sporting goods, and hair straighteners (to list only a few!). It was lovely to see that our staff hadn’t forgotten about the older children in care either, with plenty of gifts suitable for tweens and teenagers.
The gift of giving didn’t stop with our staff in the office, though – we also extended the initiative to all Primero employees onsite. Acknowledging the difficulty for some of our site workers to purchase and transport donations to our office, they were instead given the opportunity to deduct an amount of their choice from their next salary payment, with a representative from our Perth office to purchase a gift on their behalf.
The response was again overwhelming, having collected just short of 5 thousand dollars in salary deductions. A remarkable total and a significant showcase of the altruistic personalities that embody Primero’s culture, the funds were put to good use on an array of items.
Clutterbugs kindly collected all gifts from our Osborne Park office – filling a whole van load! Each year, Clutterbugs weighs the collective of gifts before it is sent on to its chosen charity – this year, for the first time, our donation helped the weight tick well over 1 tonne!!
The level of gratitude expressed by both Clutterbugs and Wanslea was immense, both commenting how blown away they were with the number of gifts and generosity of our staff.
A great initiative that so many of our employees eagerly participated in without hesitation, we could rest assured that many well deserving children would experience a happy Christmas this year.