A time for giving

By Adair Winder

Dec 22, 2022

Generous: Gabe Pell, Mark Francis and Andrea Basham from the Campaspe Port Enterprise organised a Giving Tree for families in Rochester. Photo by Steve Huntley

Nearly 400 presents were donated to Echuca’s Discovery Centre after the Campaspe Port Enterprise announced its initiative to gift children in Rochester with Christmas presents.

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Taking on the role of Santa, the enterprise arranged for a giving tree to be set up at the Discover Centre for community members to donate wrapped Christmas presents to families struggling in Rochester, many of whom are displaced.

Underneath the Giving Tree were stacks upon stacks of presents just waiting to be delivered to families still facing the aftermath of the floods.

CPE chief executive Mark Francis said he was amazed by the amount of people opting to reach into their pockets to donate presents at what was already an expensive time of year.

And the generosity didn’t end there.

CPE also received significant donations from businesses like Bennett’s Intersport, Rich River and Moama Bowling Club to purchase more presents.

“After we received those donations, we went through the census data for Rochester to figure out exactly how many presents we would need for each age bracket and to work out the kinds of presents that would match those age groups,” Mr Francis said.

“Places like Bennett’s and Harvey Norman even gave us discounts to purchase from their stores while the Rochester Business Network assisted us in arranging gift cards for children and families to use at stores within Rochester.”

On Thursday, December 22, all of the presents were counted up and sorted into age categories to be delivered to Rochester Community House for distribution to flood impacted families, just in time for Christmas day.

Mr Francis said Rochester police put their hands up to transport the presents from The Port of Echuca to Rochester.

“We were going to drop them off but the Rochester police offered to assist so we took them up on that,” Mr Francis said.

The gifts were suitable for babies through to teenagers.

Among the presents donated were gift cards, electronics, sporting equipment, toys that encourage learning, baby activity maps and other activities for the whole family.

CPE’s executive assistant Gabe Pell said all of the presents were purchased locally.

“We spent a lot of Wednesday night wrapping everything up,” Ms Pell said.

Mr Francis said he was extremely pleased with the results of the initiative.

“It’s a really great outcome,” Mr Francis said.

“We are thankful to everyone in the community who dropped off presents and to the businesses who donated money or gift cards.”