As the festive season fast approaches, many thoughts are turning to what presents to buy for family and friends, as well as what food to put on the Christmas table.
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At this time of year, we’re also being asked to think of those less fortunate in the Canberra community this Christmas.
December is the busiest time of year for The Salvation Army, seeing a large increase in requests for help over the Christmas period.
The organisation’s fundraising manager for ACT and far-south NSW, Celia Nunez, said as well as people seeking out financial assistance, there’s also high demand for help when it comes to Christmas presents and food.
“There’s been an increase across the board,” she said.
"The Canberra community is always fantastic with their support during Christmas, but with prices increasing around this time of year, there’s been a large increase in need.”
The charity expects to help more than 900 families across the ACT this year.
“We’ve received thousands of presents so far this year,” Ms Nunez said.
“While we’re helping 900 families, we’re helping probably thousands of Canberrans this Christmas because just one family could be a mum, dad and three kids.”
With Christmas less than a week away, volunteers for The Salvation Army are already out in force, helping to deliver food and toys before the big day.
“Because we’ve been asking for donations of non-perishable food throughout the year, we started handing out food this week and will be giving out food all the way up to Christmas,” Ms Nunez said.
“This time of year is not just about helping people with food and toys, it’s also helping people to be able to pay their bills and with emergency accommodation and getting them off the street.”
The need for donations at this time of year comes as a new study from Roy Morgan showed an estimated 1.6 million Australians with children under the age of 10 won’t be able to provide a Christmas present.
The figure is an increase of more than 1 million people compared to the previous year. The research also revealed that 735,000 Australians know 10 or more families who will experience financial hardship this Christmas.
Ms Nunez said the donations of presents represented so much more than just gifts at this time of year. “It provides hope and joy in an otherwise stressful time,” she said.
In addition to donations of food and toys, The Salvation Army is also providing a Christmas Eve lunch at Gungahlin this year, as well as a lunch at Christmas Day in Belconnen. “We’ve got quite a good uptake on Christmas Day so far, and everyone is welcome,” Ms Nunez said.