Raymond Terrace Lions Club help with children’s charity donations Port POPUP - DAupdate Port Stephens Port Stephens News by News Of The Area - Modern Media - November 29, 2024 Members of Raymond Terrace Lions Club with ‘We Care Connect’ volunteers. CHRISTMAS is that special time of the year when a little kindness goes a long way. There are many people in our community facing hardship and the very thought of having a gift under the tree for their children can often be beyond the budget. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au The Raymond Terrace Lions Club has been hard at work all year round and is donating over $2000 worth of Christmas toys to “We Care Connect”. This is a volunteer powered local charity re-homing quality pre-loved children’s essentials with families who need them most. Over 20,000 children live below the poverty line in the Hunter Region. “We Care Connect’s” mission is to reach more local kids and break the barrier of childhood poverty, making a difference to the lives of these families and the lives of these children. It states that poverty is more than deprivation, poverty stunts children’s emotional and mental development creating a new cycle of poverty. The donations that make a difference have a quality standard of “Would I be delighted to receive this for my child?” “We Care Connect” partners with professional caseworkers from community centres and family support agencies who provide individual requests for the families they are helping. Annette Clark, the Membership Chair for Raymond Terrace Lions Club said, ”I feel it is a privilege to be able to lift that burden for a few families and bring a smile or two to some happy faces. “Christmas is all about children and ‘We Care Connect’ have an unprecedented demand on their resources this year, so to be able to partner with them at this time of year is special”. Volunteers are holding their annual Christmas wrapping event this year, in partnership with MarketPlace Shopping Centre, Raymond Terrace, from 11 December through to 24 December. “We are always looking for helpers, the more the merrier.” For more information visit wecareconnect.org.au/ By Simon EKINS