The Blues may have been restricted in their movements in recent months but that hasn’t stopped them from reaching out to those in the community needing a hand.
Stars and staff from the Auckland franchise’s men’s and women’s teams came together on Thursday to help City Mission ensure those without have some cheer for the festive season.
“It’s not all rugby,” All Black Caleb Clarke said.
“There’s a bigger thing at hand here.”
The City Mission is in need; 30,000 gifts short of their target having already handed out nearly 10,000 food parcels due to unprecedented demand generated by nearly four months of lockdown.
That’s where the Blues came in, using their team buses to travel around all Auckland to collect donations.
“What would happen if those children come to us and we don’t have presents to give them or we don’t have food to give them,” City Mission’s Helen Robinson said.
“We're incredibly grateful.”
Across 12 hours of hauling, donations were collected from as far as Mahurangi and Warkworth in the north to Manukau City in the south.
“I just want to thank everyone that has donated to the cause,” Blues Aupiki lock Tafito Lafaele said.
“We know that our community has gone through a hard time this year.”
“You think about kids and families not being able to have Christmas and it’s pretty tough,” Blues coach Leon MacDonald added.
“To be able to do this and hopefully bring a smile to faces who've had it tough for a long time, it’s pretty important.”
By day’s end, the team bus was loaded with plenty of goodies for Christmas which will be distributed around Auckland in two weeks’ time.
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