For Gilbert, Christmas meant enjoying the “relaxed pace of a Kiwi summer” and sharing “simple moments” like having kai and quality time with friends and whānau.
He said rising living costs were squeezing households across the community, with many feeling the “added pressure” of heading into Christmas while already stretched thin.
Gilbert said the trust offered the “helping hand” to ensure more locals could share in “moments of joy, connection and celebration” this festive season.
Rather than earmarking the $10,000 funding for a single purpose, the trust left it to the Salvation Army to use it to bolster whatever areas are most in need - whether that was buying pantry staples, other household essentials or filling last-minute gaps.
Gilbert said what continued to strike him each year during the Christmas Appeal was the way Rotorua pulled together.
From children hauling cans of food to school to Fill the Bus, and workplaces running office competitions, to local businesses setting up collection points – the community always found ways to lift others up.
“That collective effort reflects the spirit of the appeal,” he said.
His comments come as the trust prepares to wrap up its 2025 trustee elections, with locals encouraged to vote.
Voter turnout sat at 19.87% as of Wednesday, with voting set to close at 12pm on Saturday.
Gilbert said choosing the trust’s leaders mattered as they were responsible for overseeing how community funding was invested and decided “what matters to our community”.
The trust had helped strengthen community spaces such as the Energy Events Centre, Parksyde, The Arts Village and the redevelopment of the Sir Howard Morrison Centre.
Trustees held “significant responsibility”, so “the few minutes spent voting has a real impact”, Gilbert said.
Anyone who has not voted can do so online via the trust’s website or at ballot boxes around the city, including the Rotorua Trust office, Rotorua Library, Pak’nSave and New World Westend.
Special votes were available for electors who did not receive their voting document, or for those who had damaged the voting document previously sent to them.
Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.
