Appeal in gifting it forward

THIS Christmas Officeworks Ballarat staff have joined in the 3BA Christmas Appeal spirit by donating a range of toys and stationary items to annual community festive campaign.

Officeworks team member and social club coordinator Mel McKerrow said once she pitched the donation idea, the team all jumped on board.

“I got the team to have a bit of fun with it as well and they have been incredibly generous and donated a huge number of toys for a lot of different ages,” she said.

“The business has also done a range of donations with stationery and items for the kids of all ages as part of our community involvement program.

“I wanted to do something this Christmas which was more charitable and we thought it was a good idea to work with a local charity especially, this year being the way that it’s been, people have started realising that a lot of families were feeling the pinch more than ever.”

After being approached by Ms McKerrow about support the appeal, Officeworks Ballarat’s community involvement manager Thea Hinchliffe said she decided to direct some extra funding to the cause.

“Officeworks donate to communities in the local region, we usually get letters dropped in and then we drop off goods to local organisations,” she said.

“Each store has an allocated amount that we can fund these community donations and support with.

“This year, letters started to slow down so we decided to throw in just over $100 in stationary for the appeal instead.”

As this is the first time the Officeworks brand has got behind the 3BA Christmas Appeal cause, ambassador Peter Caligari said it’s great to be able to welcome a new business donor to the appeal.

“This is an absolutely wonderful donation from the management and staff here at Officeworks,” he said.

“Particularly when you see such a large quantity of toys, it means so many children on Christmas day will have a toy to play with.

“It is support like this that is so valuable to the 3BA Christmas Appeal and we have huge targets to meet this year because of the substantial increase in families seeking assistance.”