Frontline Mudgee, Samaritans, and Barnardos Mudgee were each gifted $500 in WISH gift cards by Jenny Wallis and Angela Martin from Club Mudgee last week as a way for the club to help out those in need this Christmas.

“We had them lying around out the back and decided that because it’s Christmas we’d give them to those who would need them the most. Each of the groups will be able to use the gift cards for whatever they would like, be it toys, food, or supplies,” Angela Martin from Club Mudgee said. 

Cheryl Hinton from Samaritans said the organisation had just started up a new site near Mudgee Bakery and Cafe and would use their $500 to help outfit the outdoor area with shade clothes, and play equipment.

“This donation will go a long way to helping us out with this new centre,” Ms Hinton said. 

Frontline would put their gift cards towards purchasing food items for their annual Christmas hampers.

Donna Redding from Frontline said donations were down on last year and the help from Club Mudgee would help fill those hampers and put a smile on people’s faces. 

“We focus on families in bad situations who may have a family member who is sick, or could have just lost their jobs,” she said. “Often they can’t get the help they need because they have worked for most of the year or are still working a few days a week. Our hampers help take away a bit of the stress family’s may be feeling around Christmas time.”

Nicole Morris from Barnardos said the gift cards would be used in conjunction with the giving tree at Club Mudgee and presents donated to the organisation for children across the region.

“We have quite a few teenagers on the books who sometimes don’t know what they would like. We get a lot of gifts for younger children but not as many for the older ones so we’ll most likely divide the gift cards up and give them as presents this year,” Ms Morris said.