Caversham Baptist Church parishioners spent most of yesterday preparing more than 50 Christmas hampers, which will be delivered over the next week.
Associate pastor Sandra Gordon said the preparation — including contacting suppliers and selecting the recipients — began in August.
"It’s been a lot of work, but it’s all worth it.
"It’s the sort of initiative that just keeps growing."
Ms Gordon said the parish co-ordinated the selection of the recipients with Carisbrook School, Te Kaika and St Kilda Kindergarten.
"The leadership of those organisations choose the recipients because they know them best."
She said each of the parcels was tailored to families’ specific needs.
"We have a lot of former refugee families, and for them, halal is very important — so we have lots of chickpeas and lentils — but other families might want something else."
Once all the non-perishable items, such as tinned food, were packed, the parish then arranged for the families to pick up the perishable items such as the cheese and yoghurt, as well as providing fresh fruit.
The parish had also been collecting bedding, linen and other household items for the families to pick up, while they would give them vouchers to buy meat, fruit and veges.
Ms Gordon said it was a pleasure to see the results of their initiative.
"These are pretty big parcels, and people sort of come in expecting to get a box of baked beans, spaghetti and rice and noodles.
"When they see the options that they can choose from, just seeing people’s faces is wonderful. Last year we had people in tears. We got lots of hugs.
"People were just so relieved to know that somebody cared."
