From all of us at Hugo Halliday, we want to thank everyone who contributed to our Christmas Care Packages for deployed Aussie troops in memory of our Director’s late husband, AB Peter Craig.
There are over 2,000 ADF personnel deployed and away from their families this Christmas, we hope those who receive our packages feel appreciated and experience some genuine joy this festive season.
We have just finished packing the boxes and have a total of 41 care packs to send out – double what we had hoped to achieve – with 1,489 items being donated!
We of course wouldn’t have been able to do this without all our donors, who we will list below, or anyone who shared our posts on social media.
We are grateful to the Penrith Press and The Western Weekender who both published articles about our initiative (read PP here and TWW here).
To those who currently serve – deployed or not – we want to wish you an exceptional Merry Christmas. Thank you for your service to our country, the sacrifices you and your families make should always be close to the hearts of every Australian.
We want to individually thank each individual and business that stepped up and donated:
+ Mia from Moxie: for your second-to-none feminine hygiene packs
+ Sharlit from Hello Possum Clothing: for your x2 custom designed dresses for little girls from a Navy family who have had a tough year
+ Kate from Kate Kares: for going into schools to teach kids about the ADF and getting them to produce beautiful cards
+ Tralee Gardens: for getting all the kids to make cards for the care packs, teaching them about the ADF and doing a donation drive with your families
+ Sonya O’Shanna from Mary Kay Cosmetics Australia and New Zealand: for 10 male hair and body washes
+ Iris Anderson, Arbonne Independent Consultant: for 44 body lotions and lip balms
+ Melissa from Australian Sports Nutrition: for post-work out protein sachets (199 of them!)
+ Georgia Findley Biz-E-Mum: for 64 tubs of protein powder and energy booster fizzer packs
+ Bulk Nutrients: for 50 protein powder sachets
+ Polaroid Australia: for a Z2300 camera and a packet of media
+ Camilleri & Associates: for DVDs, M&M’s, a Christmas t-shirt and others
+ Helen Pickering: for wipes, coloured popcorn, chocolate, biscuits and others
+ Peter Colthorpe: for aussie tea, shortbread tins and others
+ Carlene Albronda: for Lindt chocolate blocks, oreos, liquorice, Uno and others
+ Megan Day: for notepads, mini games, stress balls, lots of lollies and others
+ Sue Craig: for chocolates
+ Robyn Mudaliar: for themed dress up costumes and specialised candy
+ Jennifer Poon: for Ovaltine’s, gobstoppers and others
+ Cassandra La: for fruity bites, water bombs, shapes, biscuits and others
+ Anne Smith: for children’s gifts
+ Lorraine Ballantine: for shavers, shampoo, biscuits, toothpaste and others
+ Frank Rossi: for milo bars, shapes, comic books and others
+ Nick: for makeup, feminine products, shoes and others
We encourage everyone to help us thank these businesses and individuals. Please send them private message, or post on our blog below.
Here is a breakdown of everything we received:
2 gobstopper packets2 sunscreens
1 sour cola bottle
1 sour fruit bottle
10 male hair and body wash tubes
2 facial scrubs
1 head and body lotion
10 Lindt blocks
1 unicorn dress up
1 Christmas t-shirt
1 wax kit
1 Hawaiian table cloth
1 blow up flamingo
4 Hawaiian table decorations
4 bottles of shampoo
4 shaving cream tubes
2 stress control creams
12 DVDs
2 Hostess donettes packs
8 toothpaste tubes
3 Nair bleach kits
19 handcreams
32 lip balms
12 packs of gum
10 boxes of Shapes
10 liquorice sticks
9 Pringle cans
7 packs of mixed lollies
3 red frog packets
8 chocolate pop tarts
6 Australian tea bag boxes
4 biscuits packets
12 sesame snaps
64 tubs of protein
2 kids puzzles
2 barrels of monkeys games
2 custom-designed dresses
1 M&M’s tub
1 Barbie sticker pack
3 sets of colouring pencils
1 pack of milo nuggets
6 packs of face wipes
2 key rings
1 vege chips packet
13 bags of nuts
1 beach ball
1 jumbo starburst bag
6 M&M packets
5 packets of water bombs
2 boxes of bottle cap lollies
82 comic books
21 toothbrushes
36 razors
8 deodorants
42 board and card games
53 muesli bars
40 milo bars
15 bars of soap
2 coloured popcorn bags
29 feminine hygiene packs
11 packets of oreos
6 tim tam packets
7 puzzle books
6 puddings
14 note pads
8 shortbread boxes
35 nutella products
6 superhero Pez dispensers
2 instant noodle containers
6 makeup kits
9 Napoleon eye shadows
5 Pantene Pro-V style creams
2 eye masks
2 cosmetic headbands
2 micro towels
12 Mentos sticks
1 bag of hot chocolate mix
1 bag of chocolate bullets
1 bag of chocolate peanuts
1 bag of chocolate sultanas
6 bags of skittles
64 fruity bite packets
3 melody pops
2 vegemite tubes
18 Ovaltine packs
1 crystal ginger pack
16 ANZAC biscuits packets
16 gingerbread babies packets
2 Olay eye creams
5 face powders
2 nail polishes
2 Olay white radiance essences
15 bath fizzers
6 hot chocolate sachets
8 caramel latte sachets
5 zappo packets
1 bag of Maltesers
10 snack snickers
10 snack mars bars
18 snack dreamy bars
11 snack smarties
8 fizzers
17 red skins
4 stress balls
25 lollipops
22 Wizz Fizz packets
30 candy canes
12 cherry ripes
30 packets of Shapes
1 bag of marshmallows
1 reindeer costume
2 reindeer ears
5 Santa hats
1 Elf hat
2 Christmas novelty ties
4 animal set dress ups
3 Christmas tree glasses
199 post-work out protein sachets
10 Christmas crackers
1 packet of 150 Mentos
4 energy booster packs
60 mini Tic Tac packets
50 Bulk Nutrients protein powder sachets
Thanks again to all our donors! We couldn’t have done it without you.