On Friday 15 December, our intrepid President and myself (standing in for Elias Lebbos, Team Leader, Community Services) meet our partner organisations, Steps Outreach, Lentara and TAL Insurance. This annual event has TAL staff selecting a gift tag with the age and gender of the recipient, purchasing a suitable gift and leaving it for collection under the Tree of Joy. Rotary arranges the gift collection with our distribution partners, ensuring the gifts get to the families most in need.
The photo above shows (left to right), Grace Baulch from Steps Outreach; Dannielle Shokry from TAL Insurance, Frank and myself, Malcolm Shimmins from Lentara and another TAL member. The photo shows a number of the gifts after more than half had already been removed, demonstrating the generosity of the TAL staff. We also attended a second TAL location where even more gifts were collected and distributed.
Malcom and Grace confirmed the importance of these gifts for families who are doing it tough, along with the food hampers donated by Rotary members.