Opinion: Rotorua community does itself proud through Christmas Appeal

The Rotorua Daily Post annual Christmas appeal has come to a close. Photo / File

This weekend I wait with bated breath to find out just how much this year's Rotorua Daily Post Christmas Appeal raised for the Rotorua Salvation Army Foodbank.

The appeal launched six weeks ago today and while donations were slow to trickle in at first, the last week has seen a huge influx of donations.

Just this week an anonymous donor dropped off 350 non-perishable food items to the Salvation Army Church while volunteers were putting together food parcels for those in need.

Staff at Comvita donated more than 250 jars of honey, as well as 300 other health food items to the cause, TRG Imaging Rotorua gifted more than $2000 worth of fresh produce and monetary donations enabled the Salvation Army to buy roast chickens to include in the 120 hampers they are distributing.

To top it all off, Rotorua Trust donated $10,000 to the Christmas Appeal this week.

This time last week the number of donated items was 14,874.

Items are valued at $2 so the running total was $29,748. But, with the influx of donations this past week I'm sure that number has spiked.

As well as those mentioned above, a huge pile built up in the Rotorua Daily Post foyer. It had to be cleared out twice this week.

When the appeal began, Salvation Army corps officers Kylie and Ralph Overbye told the Rotorua Daily Post the appeal wasn't about beating last year's record collection of more than $82,000 worth of food.

This week they said they had been "delighted by the response by the community".

No matter what the final tally comes back with on Monday, I know the Rotorua community has done themselves proud. They've shown generosity and Christmas spirit by rallying around a positive cause.

The final tally for the appeal will be announced in Monday's edition of the Rotorua Daily Post.