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JOHN BISSET/Stuff
Harcourts Blackham and Co staff members in Timaru show pyjamas donated by the community, back from left, Jemima Kartolo, Samantha Wilson, Diane Miller, and Benjamin Dalloway, and, front from left, Jeremy Kartolo, Julian Blanchard and Jill Bennett.
A community collection to help keep children warm at night has had a massive response, with snuggly PJs being given out to many homes, one of those behind the initiative says.
For the past few months staff at Harcourts Blackham and Co offices in Timaru, Temuka, Geraldine, Ōamaru and Waimate have been collecting pyjamas for children and teenagers, donated by the community to be given to charities.
Harcourts marketing and events manager Ben Dalloway said the idea came from agent Jill Bennett who had seen a similar collection in another region.
“We thought ‘why don’t we do that?’ so put a call-out to the community,’’ Dalloway said.
It had been hoped the collection would receive about 250 pairs of pyjamas, but on its completion that number was 338, he said.
“A whole bunch of amazing individuals and businesses gave a lot of pyjamas which is really nice.
“It was just amazing – our goal was blown out of the water, and that was all because of the community.’’
Each office then picked a charity to give the pyjamas to, with Arowhenua Whānau Services, the Geraldine St Andrews Foodbank, Presbyterian Support South Canterbury Family Works Food Bank, and Plunket all chosen.
While he was unsure if the collection would become an annual initiative, Dalloway said the company was “always looking at the next opportunity to help the community’’.
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