Unidus Community Centre was once again filled with joyous Christmas cheer and family fun at our annual Christmas 4 Kids event on Saturday, 3 December 2016. This event has been running annually for over a decade and its purpose remains the same – to generously bless children and families in the south-western suburbs of Brisbane and bring the Christmas cheer.
This year, the Christmas 4 Kids event was extended to 4 hours, happening from 10am to 2pm. A total of 566 residents of local suburbs, consisting of 235 adults and 331 children, attended the event. Every child who came was given a free Christmas present.
With the theme ‘A Royal Christmas’, children were invited to dress up in their best royalty outfits and the best-dressed children were crowned. The winner and runner-up received movie tickets among other prizes. Over the 4 hours, children had a variety of 23 activities to enjoy including favourites like jumping castle, laser tag, face painting, bop-along buddies, balloon twists, tug of war and fishing game. In between, there were dance performances and dance-alongs by the Groundbreakaz and a few hamper giveaways.
Anglicare joined us at this free community event to mingle with the attendees and provide information about their services. Queensland Police Services were also present with a marked police vehicle, in which both children and adults had great fun exploring.
Our guests of honour at this year’s Christmas 4 Kids included the Premier of Queensland, Annastacia Palaszczuk, the Federal Member of Oxley, Milton Dick MP and the Councillor of Calamvale Ward, Cr Angela Owen.
We thank the 188 volunteers who came as early as 6am on the day to assist in various areas such as logistics, food and beverage and kids activities. We also thank the members of the church for donating a whooping total of 2123 portions of cupcakes, muffins, cookies, sandwiches and assorted treats! We are also grateful to Cornerstone Church and the Ipswich Hospital Foundation for lending us over 10 marquees to provide shade on the day.