Twitter community gives City Mission some Christmas cheer

Twitter community gives City Mission some Christmas cheer

The #nzsecretsanta Twitter community has rallied behind New Zealand Post’s online Christmas game in their highest numbers yet, donating around 200 gifts and $6000 to the Christchurch City Mission.

2619 Kiwis signed up to play Secret Santa on Twitter this year, up from 1500 last year. For every player that signed up to send an anonymous gift, New Zealand Post donated $2 to the Christchurch City Mission.

New Zealand Post Global Development Director Jared Handcock presented the donation to Christchurch City Missioner Michael Gorman this morning.

“The donation will go a long way toward supporting families in need this Christmas,” Michael Gorman said.

Those players who didn’t send a gift, known by New Zealand Post as ‘Bad Santas’, will have the parcels meant for them passed to children attending the City Mission’s Christmas Day lunch.

The Christchurch City Mission said New Zealand Post’s donation was one of the more innovative and unique it had received.

“It’s an enormous thing for New Zealand Post to have pulled together. It’s good to see its postal network put to charitable use, spreading Christmas cheer to people who don’t have a lot at this time of year.”

Gorman said the City Mission would put the interesting assortment of gifts to good use.

“We have kids and families of all backgrounds using our services so all sorts of presents are welcome,” Michael Gorman said.

But the joy of NZ Secret Santa isn’t over yet.

“The game is about giving as well as receiving,” Jared Handcock said.

“While Christmas has come early for the Christchurch City Mission, there are still thousands of secret gifts winging their way around the country for all of our Twitter players.

“The enthusiasm and support New Zealand Post has received from the Twitter community is what has made this all possible. We want to thank all of our players for another fantastic year of festive fun and charity,” Jared Handcock said.

For photos of gifts sent and received around the country this year search #nzsecretsanta on Twitter.

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