Editorial: Generosity is the spirit of the season

The Christmas Cheer Appeal, which is championed and supported by the Hawke's Bay Today, is well over three decades old. It had been going for several years before I was asked to step in and steer the reporting side of this terrific example of community caring.

And I've been handling that for about 30 years or thereabouts, so it's got some history on its side.

It's probably one of the best examples of a "feel-good" pursuit that you could come across.

Year after year the donations arrive, and I estimate that since day one about $1 million in cash, food and gifts has been donated.

The businesses, clubs, associations, schools and individuals have just rallied around to do whatever they can to help.

Going back to the old Daily Telegraph days, there was a grand lady of most senior years who would come in year after year after year. She would spend 11 months knitting everything from children's slippers to teddy bears and dolls. Dozens and dozens of them, year after year.

And she would slip in with the bags, deposit them and slip out again. So we just called her Nana the Knitter.

She was one of many regulars who supported an appeal that was simply designed to make a special time of the year special indeed for the less fortunate people out there - whose Christmases would otherwise be anything but special.

We've had little kids coming in with near-new toys and gifts to pass on, as well as folks who had been out shopping and simply decided to buy something extra and drop it off on the way home.

Their rationale is a no-brainer: they just want to do something "to help someone".

And it's not just individual donors who come to the fore. Companies step forward to organise transport and whatever logistics are required to get cartons loaded and unloaded.

Not to mention the volunteers: the folks who give up several days during a busy time of the year to help sort and pack more than 800 parcels that will be put together.

It's verging on being a cliche, I know, but this is absolutely what Christmas is all about: giving something to bring a sparkle to someone's otherwise slightly gloomy landscape.