As the Christmas catalogues arrive in the mail and the television advertisements portray perfect Christmas mornings, another reality is being played out at St John's Care in Reid.
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St John's Care programs manager Jason Haines says people are arriving at the charity crying because they have no food or can't pay their electricity bill, let alone have money to buy Christmas presents.
He says children in the Canberra community are going hungry.
"People are walking in the door and you can just feel the stress," he said.
"They're overwhelmed. I've had four clients come in today crying. They need food.
"Yesterday I had a mum come in bawling her eyes out and as we were talking to her, we were giving the kids food. The little girl was eating her noodles and I heard her say to the volunteer, 'Thank you, I don't feel hungry anymore'."
St John's Care executive officer Sarah Murdoch is blunt about the need for donations.
“We are quite intimidated by the level of support the community needs this Christmas and as it stands, we are unable to provide that support without help from the Canberra community," she said.
Apart from Christmas present donations, St John's Care needs help stocking its community pantry, which is running dangerously low on essential items.
"We are running out of food in the centre, we are not keeping up with demand," Mr Haines said.
"Normally, a shelf of food at the centre would last a week. It's not even lasting three days at the moment. Today, for instance, we ran out of baked beans. Spaghetti. Milk is really short."
The Eastlake Group has launched Christmas giving trees at its clubs in Griffith, Kaleen, Gungahlin and Calwell. Patrons and the wider community are encouraged to donate non-perishable food items and other household essentials to St John's Care for immediate distribution.
Eastlake corporate affairs manager Louize Glenn said a list of in-demand items, as specified by St John's, had been put up in all the clubs.
''For many people, dishwashing liquid or laundry powder is nothing. Unfortunately, to some Canberrans, it can make a real difference, so please consider buying a second bottle this week and donating to St John's Care," she said.
Ms Glenn said Eastlake's charter included helping those in the community, and St John's was obviously at the coalface of addressing need in Canberra.
"We're so much more than football and a schnitty," she said.
"If the need is there, we will go there. It is unfair that there is the demand in the ACT for this. It's not right these services need to be provided, but if if they do, let's get down to ground level and start helping and do what we can."
In then meantime, Mr Haines said St John's was seeing people with "huge" gas and electricity bills. People who used to support the charity were now seeking its help.
"We are seeing 1500 people a month coming through the door," he said.
The St John's Reid present room gives children in need a chance to choose a new gift for themselves for Christmas. Mr Haines said teenagers often missed out and gift vouchers were a good option.
Ms Glenn said the Eastlake clubs would deliver all donated goods on a rolling basis to St John's between now and December 21.
"We'll accept any donation on behalf of St John's," she said.
"We do ask that if they're dropping off toys, they're new toys, with tags. We don't want them to be dropping off second hand items."
- Items can be dropped off at Eastlake clubs in Oxley Street at Griffith, Were Street at Calwell, Hinder Street at Gungahlin and Georgina Crescent at Kaleen.
