She says parcels are distributed through social service agencies who nominate families they are actively working with.
“They are not the same people every year,” she says.
“Nominations are made in October, and a lot of work goes into making sure there are no duplicates and that support is spread fairly.”
Once parcels are packed, Overend personally handwrites about 800 labels each year to ensure each sack is correctly tracked.
“I spend hours looking at the list to make sure that we’ve got no duplicates in there,” Overend says.
“It’s my act of relaxing in the lead-up towards Christmas here.”
Most parcels were collected and distributed last week from Greenmeadows Hall and are already being delivered by agencies across the city.
“They’re very excited that after working in some tough situations throughout the year, they get to bring a bit of joy to people at Christmas time,” Overend said.
While donations of toys and food have been strong, she says the greatest ongoing need is gifts for teenagers and parcels for people living alone.
Physical donations can be dropped off until December 24, with online cash donations closing on tomorrow.
Any items received after Christmas Eve will be distributed through social service agencies when they reopen in January or placed in community kai cupboards if perishable.
Collection points are:
- Mitre 10 MEGA Napier - 180 Prebensen Drive
- Taradale Library - 24 White St, Taradale
- Napier Library - 1 Tennyson St, Napier
- NCC Customer Service Centre - 215 Hastings St, Napier
- Hawke’s Bay Today office in Napier - 104 Dickens St, Napier South (closing midday Friday, Dec 19)
