How does Toys 'n' Tucker work??? Toys ’n’ Tucker is ANGLICARE’s annual Christmas program where churches, youth groups, schools and businesses collect awesome things for us to give out to our clients at Christmas time. Toys ’n’ Tucker runs over the whole month of November and all participating groups run the program differently, either collecting goods throughout the month or for one week only. Toys ‘n’ Tucker is a great way to engage your youth group to show Christ’s love in a practical way to those people in need within our communities. Within this booklet you will find helpful information about items we need this year. These toys may be the only ones a child gets this Christmas so we’d love it if you donated new toys. You will also see a suggested list of food items, these are the items we often run out of and help make the hampers special at Christmas time. We also like to offer our clients Christmas Essential Cards which mean they can go out and buy their own fresh food for Christmas Day. This option helps return dignity to our clients and gives them freedom of choice.
Throughout the whole month of November various groups will be collecting goods for us. Every group will run Toys ‘n’ Tucker differently depending on their group’s needs. We suggest you make it a fun experience for your group members. When you have finished Toys’n’Tucker we will come and collect the items from you. You can book a pick up online or over the phone and we will arrange to come on one of your preferred dates. Make sure you book your pick up early, even before you’ve finished collecting, as our drivers can get busy towards the end of November! All the donated goods then go to our warehouse to be sorted and packed by volunteers into food and toy hampers. We pack the toy hampers individually for each client’s child depending on their gender and age. Last year we packed over 6000 food and toy hampers and each year the need grows. The completed hampers are then delivered to our Community Care Centres located all around Sydney and the Illawarra and are distributed to our clients in time for Christmas day. Thank you for joining with us and sharing the joy this Christmas!!!
Why do people come to ANGLICARE at Christmas time? For many of us waking up on Christmas morning is an exciting time. Christmas day is spent with family and friends creating special memories. It is also most importantly spent reflecting on Christ and celebrating his birth, death and resurrection which gives us the hope of eternal life. People come to ANGLICARE at Christmas time often because something has occurred in their life either right before Christmas or during the year. As Christmas approaches this then means that they are in a difficult financial situation where they can’t provide what is seen as a ‘normal’ Christmas for their family and one that many of us take for granted. For a parent in this situation it is hard for them not to be able to offer a gift or something special for Christmas lunch for their child and family. It can be heartbreaking for the parents to think that their child will wake up to no gift or special Christmas lunch on Christmas day. It can be a very stressful and emotionally difficult time for people. Families may be disjointed, finances are tight, expectations for Christmas day are high, and all of these things put together can make it a very distressing time. Walking into shops where advertising focuses around happy families at Christmas adds to the stress. Through providing gifts and food at Christmas time ANGLICARE gives hope to our clients and their families. This also helps our workers to show God’s love through practical support. Your donations of new toys, Christmas food or money all help to make our clients’ Christmas special and give them hope of a better future.
Ways you can give this Christmas There are 3 easy ways for you to give HOPE to people this Christmas. 1. Donate new toys: We make up special Christmas toy hampers for the children in the families we work with. Toy hampers are given to children aged 0-16 years and we often run out of baby gifts and teenage gifts.
A good way to buy gifts is to think of things that YOU loved to receive when you were that age ! ! ! • • • • • • • • • •
Board games Sports equipment – skateboard, cricket set, soccer ball, football, netball Craft kits & Lego kits 0-3 baby toys Cosmetics for teenage girls Cool wallets, bags and handbags for teenage girls Books Pencils, pencil cases, textas School backpacks Retail gift cards for teenagers!!!
Things to note: • •
Please don’t wrap your items as we like to pack toy hampers for individual children and we also like to let the parents see the gifts and wrap everything themselves ready for Christmas day. Your gift may be the only one a child receives this Christmas, so it is important that we give them a new gift.
2. Donate Christmas food: Families are given a special Christmas food hamper to share together on Christmas day. Here are some ideas to make their meal special: • • • • •
Christmas pudding Christmas cakes Long-life custard Tinned ham Lollies
Things to note: • • •
We would prefer you don’t donate chocolate, as this can melt in the process. Please don’t donate food items in glass jars as these can get broken when things are being transferred and can leave a big mess behind. Remember that our Christmas food hampers are going out to real people just like you, so donate tasty food that you would like to eat (it’s also a good idea to double check the expiry date!).
3. Donate money towards a Christmas Essentials Card*: The Christmas Essentials Card enables people in need to go out and purchase the fresh food they would like for their special festive meal. Your donation will give the gift of choice to those who would otherwise go without at Christmas. Fundraise together to buy a card (or lots of cards!) for a client and their family so that they can have a special treat this Christmas. *Please note our clients are not able to buy alcohol or tobacco with these cards.
Game suggestions Cook like a MasterChef Divide your group up into teams. Using cans of baked beans, spaghetti, 2-minute noodles and other ingredients commonly donated during food drives, teams must prepare a delicious (and normal!) Christmas meal for the selected judges. See which team can make the most mouth-watering meal from their items. We suggest this game to provide an opportunity for the young people in your group to really think about the food they are donating and the reality of not having special food to celebrate this Christmas. We want to encourage young people to donate AWESOME Christmas food to help us bless thousands of families.
Merry Xmas Give each member of your group a piece of paper and pen. Give everyone 1020mins (depending on the group size) to go around the room and ask 5 people their favourite thing about Christmas or what Christmas day involves for them. Then come back together as a larger group and ask a few people to share what they wrote down. This is a good opportunity to lead into thinking about families in our communities who don’t look forward to Christmas like most of us do. Think about the difference you can make in people’s lives by giving awesome gifts and food!
Bobbing for SPAM ! ! ! Cut up Spam into cubes and place them in a tub of water (Spam will sink so make sure it’s a shallow tub). Place the tub on the floor in the middle of a tarp. Have four other tubs in the four corners of the tarp. Divide your group into four teams, each team has their own tub. Then run the game just like ‘bobbing for apples’ where people pull chunks of Spam out of the tubs using their mouth. Which ever team pulls the most chunks of Spam out of the tub first will win. Then have a ‘Spam-off’ between your two quickest challengers. We suggest this game to provide an opportunity for young people to see that giving Spam to someone isn’t really much of a gift at all! All people are made in God’s own image, therefore when choosing gifts and food, we suggest you think about what YOU might want this Christmas?
THANK YOU !!!