More than 250 South Auckland families, who have sick or disabled children, received some extra support and festive cheer at a special Christmas party today.
Event organisers provided gifts, food parcels, face painting and entertainment for the kids who are looked after at Middlemore’s Kidz First Children's Hospital.
One of the organisers. Buttabean Motivation founder David Letele, said the event reached more than a thousand children and was about "giving them the best Christmas ever".
He said this was the second year his organisation collaborated with health charity Middlemore Foundation to run the event.
“When you see the joy on the kids' faces and you see the relief and the stress and the weight just leaving the parents' shoulders," he said. "As soon as they walk in and you see that look, it’s just amazing man."
The families who attended described to 1News their reaction to the event.
"It’s amazing ― you don’t get many things for free these days,” one parent said.
“Everything that they are doing for the kids is so amazing,” said another.
“Just to see the smiles on all these kids' faces is just … what more could you wish for?"
One of the families at the event was Ryyko and his six-year-old daughter, Nina Grace, who has been in and out of the hospital for multiple spinal operations.
“To be honest, we would have been struggling," he said. "It would have been a horrible Christmas just sitting there and wondering how are you gonna make things work out, and how are you gonna make ends meet."
He said he had to put his head down and do his best for his daughter, who was the one suffering. "That’s the role of being a father."
Margi Mellsop, the chief executive of the Middlemore Foundation, said the cost of living was adding to the pressure on the South Auckland community.
"They are the community that is doing it tough. And they are working poor ― a lot of them," she said. "They are the engine room of New Zealand."
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