A MOUNT Gambier couple spread the Christmas cheer even further this year by using their festive light display to raise money for children and families who have experienced abuse and neglect.
While lighting up is a festive tradition for Derwent Court residents Patrick Grubb and Carly Johnson, this year the couple encouraged donations from visitors.
“Every year we have so many people come past, we get hundreds of visitors and I wanted to get the most of out of it,” Ms Johnson said.
“I think Christmas is all about the kids and we wanted to try and get behind a charity to do with kids.”
The pair spent months transforming their home into a winter wonderland to bring Christmas cheer to families, as well as illuminate a more serious issue.
Mr Grubb and Ms Johnson chose to donate to Act for Kids, which provides free therapy and support services for children and families who have experienced or are at risk of abuse or neglect.
With one child abused or neglected approximately every 11 minutes in Australia, the couple said it was important to raise funds and awareness for the organisation.
“We had a sign out the front which said the funds would be going towards Act for Kids,” Mr Grubb said.
“Some people started crying when they read the sign.
“It was pretty full on.
“We had no idea how any people had been affected.”
With the help of friends, families and visitors, the pair – who were among several festive-themed houses across the region collecting funds for a range of charities – raised more than $1100 for Act for Kids.
“We set a benchmark to try and raise $100, but we got there quickly and decided to keep going and going,” Ms Johnson said.
“Christmas Eve was the time we knew we would have a lot of people come by, so we organised one of our friends to dress up as Santa.
“We made reindeer food out of oats and edible glitter and people could throw it on our lawn and we ended up selling all of the 180 bags of it.
“When I started to run out of the reindeer food, I made reindeer noses out of Maltesers and Jaffas and we sold 120 bags of those as well.”
The pair praised the outstanding efforts of visitors, participants and their neighbours, who also got into the Christmas spirit with elaborate light displays.
“There are about five houses which also really get behind Christmas with lights in the street,” Mr Grubb said.
“It encouraged people who might not otherwise looked at the lights to come down and have a look.
“We would have random cars stop during the day just to say what a good job everyone had done and donate to the charity.
“One night when we were away, we returned home and someone had donated $70.”
With the lights on the Derwent Court property now packed up for next Christmas, the couple are already thinking about their next dazzling display.
“Every year we think abut what we can do the next year to make our display better,” Ms Johnson said.
“We will definitely pick another children’s charity to support.
“Getting behind a kids charity was good and we received a lot of support from not only adults, but also other kids which was amazing.
“For us, it is important to make sure every kid can love Christmas the way we do.”
