Before the mad rush of Christmas takes hold, the Rotorua Daily Post is encouraging local groups, businesses, schools and organisations to think about how they can raise money or collect food for its annual Christmas Appeal.
The Salvation Army Foodbank is this year's recipeient of the appeal and we are looking to highlight locals who are willing to help the needy this Christmas.
If you work for a large organisation, you might want to ask staff members to bring a can of food to work to donate, or a local school might like to hold a mufti day for a gold coin.
Different businesses around Rotorua are also encouraged to have a bit of fun by challenging other businesses to match any donations.
Significant donations will be reported in the Rotorua Daily Post with an article and a photograph.
The appeal was officially launched on Saturday with the newspaper donating $1000 to the appeal. In conjunction with the Rotorua Weekender and The Hits 97.5FM, the Rotorua Daily Post will be seeking non-perishable food donations to help the foodbank feed the hungry during the Christmas period and into next year. The appeal closes on December 23.
Rotorua Salvation Army commanding officer Major Bill Millar said he would like to see more donations coming through the doors.
He said the foodbank was constantly in demand and earlier this year they risked running out of food altogether.