"We are all fortunate enough to be in a position to make a donation to help out those less fortunate than ourselves and the month of December leading up until Christmas seemed an opportune time."
The Bay of Plenty Times Christmas Appeal business challenge is about encouraging and motivating companies to collect as many non-perishable food items for the Tauranga Community Foodbank as possible and those efforts will be monitored, compared side-by-side and celebrated.
Paterson said Pyes Pa Doctors would love to challenge its contemporaries in the region to do the same thing as them or something similar.
"With the busy lives everyone has this is one thing we can do easily - just have a quick look in your pantry or in the supermarket when you are doing your grocery shop and pick out one thing that someone less fortunate than yourself may not buy for themselves."
She said having donation cartons in the staff room, a place employees go into at least once or twice a day, is an easy way to encourage staff to get involved.
And so Pyes Pa Doctors will be one of the stop-off points on December 12 when the Bay of Plenty Times and The Hits radio station travel around Tauranga in a Bayhopper bus to collect donations.
The "Fill the Bus" competition will be covered live on the day and there is a $500 food and beverage voucher from CBK - Craft Bar and Kitchen to award. Each competing business will go into the draw to win the voucher.
Following the December 12 donation pick-up, Paterson said her team would probably continue to fill another carton with food and deliver it themselves to the foodbank on December 21 or 22.
"All about the giving Christmas spirit I suppose," she said.