Giving away restores Christmas joy to Mary-Jane
Giving away restores Christmas joy to Mary-Jane
5 December 2019
Mary-Jane has been a regular volunteer for the past six Christmas seasons at the Capricorn Region Corps, Rockhampton.
“After 40 years working in retail, I had really lost my Christmas ‘mojo’ and it wasn’t until I’d volunteered for the Salvos one year that I really got it back, and in a way I had never had it before,” said Mary-Jane Clewes, a volunteer at the Capricorn Region Corps, Rockhampton.
Mary-Jane, who has volunteered for the past six years with the corps’ Christmas hamper program, as well as two mornings a week on reception, said being able to help others, and seeing the joy of parents at knowing their children would receive gifts at Christmas, changed her entire outlook on the season.
“I had experienced bullying in the workplace, had left my job and was feeling very depressed,” Mary-Jane said. “A friend of mine, who was then a financial counsellor at the corps, suggested that I come to the corps to volunteer as a way of helping me through.
“Jenny Wayman, who runs the program and is amazing, explained about making phone calls, doing the paperwork, organising the toys and putting the hampers together for people.
“Doing this, being able to be part of giving things away for people in need, and seeing parents so happy as they chose gifts for their kids, gave me so much joy.
“It’s also a joy to work with the other volunteers – some of whom take a week of holidays every year to do this because they love it so much.
“Volunteering has helped me get over what happened to me with the bullying, which was soul-destroying. The Salvos have been good to me and helped me so much with other issues that came from all that happened.”
Mary-Jane explained that as donations of toys come in through the Kmart Wishing Tree and other community members, they are sorted into gifts for boys and girls, according to age group. Parents then choose appropriate gifts for their children.
“This really helps the parents to feel they are part of it and that they can give their children what they know they would like,” said Mary-Jane.
“It’s lovely to see them so happy doing this. And it’s the same when they get the hampers and bags of stocking fillers that we have prepared.
“This keeps us all busy from the end of October until the middle of December, but it’s part of what I do every year now and I wouldn’t change it!”
Comments
You do an amazing job Mj, I dont know what they would do without u