Hampers for families in need this Christmas

Christmas elves are amongst us and have been hard at work making sure vulnerable families can have a very merry Christmas.

More than 200 Christmas hampers have been donated by businesses and individuals for needy families, in the tenth year of the Christchurch Methodist Missions's Support a Family for Christmas.

"The response has just been amazing and the thought put into the hampers -- people have put as much effort as they would put into for buying for their own families," said Methodist Mission's spokeswoman Mary Richardson.

Needy families are nominated by the mission's staff members or other social service agencies and then matched with a sponsor who then plays Christmas elf putting together goodies.

"Each family is matched to a sponsor and given a profile. For instance you could have a family with two children and the girl likes pink, so you would get something for the girl which could be pink," said Ms Richardson.

The Christmas hampers were started 10 years ago to compliment the sit down dinner on Christmas Day by the Christchurch City Mission.

"The City Mission do the sit down dinner very well for who want companionship over Christmas, we thought this would be a nice compliment to that where we provide for people wanting to Christmas at home with their family," she said.

"This means families can have Christmas in their own homes and have presents under the tree for their children," she said.

Ms Richardson said many of the city's business have supported the campaign for years.

"New Zealand Tax Refunds have sponsored between eight and ten every year and several teams within the city council have got together to sponsor hampers too," said Ms Richardson.