As Christmas approaches, the Rotary Club of Keilor is again busily preparing for its annual ‘100 Christmas Bags’ project.
For more than 20 years, this project has seen 100 gift bags distributed by Bolton Clarke Community Nurses to their most isolated, restricted and loneliest patients in the Moonee Valley and Brimbank local Government areas.
Often, recipients of the Christmas Bags do not have a network of family, friends or community, and the Club’s aim is to offer these people some small measure of comfort and joy at Christmas time. The bags always contain basic food supplies, toiletry and personal care items, as well as some seasonal ‘goodies’ that, together, go some way to providing meaningful support and an uplift in spirit.
‘The generous Christmas Hampers received by our clients from the Keilor Rotary Club have been wonderful and have really made a difference to the people who received them,’ said a representative of Bolton Clarke Community Nurses after last year’s distribution. One recipient, Anica, said ‘I am very surprised as I don’t receive many surprises nor gifts. It brought tears to my eyes, and it has made my Christmas feel wonderful.’
The President of the Rotary Club of Keilor, Norm Darper, explained that the project depends heavily on the Club’s own fundraising, as well as monetary and other donations to fill the bags. In 2025, the Club is also grateful for the support of The Rotary Foundation, in the form of a District Grant for the 100 Christmas Bags project.
