'Hardest year we've ever had': Northland charity on gathering Christmas donations

A Northland charity working to provide struggling families with food and presents this Christmas says the need has never been greater - and funding has never been harder to find.

The Bald Angels Charitable Trust aims to distribute, via partner agencies, kai boxes and personalised gifts to more than 400 families with a total of 1300 children this year.

Founder Thérèse Wickbom said demand was so high the number of recipients could be doubled, even tripled, if funding allowed.

She said the scheme started 13 years ago with just 40 families.

The gifts were donated by the public but the charity bought the food used to fill the kai boxes.

This year was proving to be the toughest yet, she said.

"The cost of living is making it harder for the mum and dad donors to help out and funders are being stretched because of demand. So we're really struggling to raise the funds we need to make this project come off," she said.

"Both in terms of accessing funding and filling demand, this is the hardest year we've had."

Wickbom said the cost-of-living crisis was affecting everyone from the funders at the top to people struggling at the bottom, and "every layer in between".

Even families with both parents in full-time work were struggling to pay their bills, she said.

"So people who might have donated a whole bunch of toys or sponsored a kai box last year may not be able to do so this year. We work with more than 30 partner agencies across Te Tai Tokerau (Northland), and from every one of them, the stories this year are tougher."

Wickbom said the gifts and kai boxes were distributed by agencies such as iwi, social service and health providers, police, Plunket and Women's Refuge, whose on-the-ground staff knew where the need was greatest.

While families needed help at any time of year, Christmas was especially acute, she said.

The pressure on caregivers to provide something special could lead to poor mental health, poor behaviour, increased risk of harm, and children feeling left out.

Feedback from past recipients was that the kai boxes brought comfort, hope, a sense of safety, and a reminder that someone cared.

Wickbom said gift donation boxes had been set up at various locations around Northland and a quiz night at the Turner Centre on 13 November was this year's main fundraiser for the kai boxes.

She said the charity needed to raise $50,000 by 7 December.

The theme of the quiz night was 'Who did you want to be?'

"We chose that theme because we all take it for granted that we can dream of what we want to be. But I've met tamariki and rangatahi (children and young people) who don't know how to dream, because they're living in survival mode. To me, that is beyond tragic, that a child is so focused on just getting through today that they don't have the capacity to dream."

New labour force data out this week showed unemployment in Northland had jumped to 8.3 percent, the highest in the country, dealing another blow to the region's struggling families