Bridge players happy to deal a helping hand

Mount Maunganui Bridge Club president Judy Bartlett and Christmas Appeal co-ordinator Jo-An White have been encouraging members to bring in donations for the foodbank. Photo/Andrew Warner

The members of the Mount Maunganui Bridge Club did not need persuading when the idea to support the Bay of Plenty Times Christmas Appeal was raised.

Member Jo-An White came up with the suggestion and has been dropping donations off to the Tauranga Community Foodbank as they have come in.

About four boxes full of food have been donated by members.

President Judy Bartlett said the 200 members were happy to help those less fortunate than themselves.

"There are people that are going to have a pretty lean Christmas, so we wanted to give a little," she said. "It's quite horrifying for people in our age group to think that there are people in our community that are quite hard [up]. When it was mentioned to our members, they didn't need persuading. It's been a very, very generous response.

"The other thing is, people can't bear the thought of children going without at Christmas."

Two weeks into the appeal $12,729, including $7500 of Pak'nSave gift vouchers, has been donated, along with more than 1500 items of food, which are being valued at $1.50 each, bringing the total donated to $14,985.

The campaign runs until December 20.