More than 370 people collected grocery vouchers and detergent from a charity giveaway to help families feel “full and clean” for Christmas.

Tina Laws, the executive director of the Women’s Resource Centre, said that the need for support continued throughout the year.

She added: “I figured to myself, what better way to enjoy your Christmas than to be fed, full and clean?”

Women were given a $100 voucher for Lindo’s and a container of detergent at a two-day event held at the Hamilton Seventh-day Adventist Church this week.

Some families also received a chicken to cut their grocery bill even further.

Ms Laws said that clients on a “running list” were contacted to collect the donations.

She explained: “Some of the people continue to call us on a weekly, monthly basis.

“Some of the people that were on the list said, ‘thank you, but we are now in a better position so we would rather you give it to somebody else’. We thought that was so gracious.

“We even had some people who came to collect and said, ‘I want to gift this to somebody else’, so we thought that was also gracious.”

Ms Laws highlighted that the charity plans to expand its training programmes next year to include sessions on budgeting and cooking to help women become more self-reliant.

She said: “Since the pandemic it has been such an influx, and it’s never really stopped.

“We still reach out and ask for support for grocery vouchers and for people to be able to be fed and clean as well as support for training and awareness.

“In the new year, what we want to do is train those families who have come in on a weekly basis for food and to be clean — we want to train them in ways on how they can develop better money habits.”

Ms Laws added: “We don’t want to just keep giving handouts, we want to also be able to say, ‘this is how to prioritise’.”

She said that sessions could cover how to make $100 for groceries “stretch” and how to prepare a meal.

The WRC will also continue its workshops on life skills and relationships, among other things.

Ms Laws said that the charity’s approach will be to “give a hand up, not a hand out”.

She thanked all of the people and organisations involved in the Christmas drive, including Lindo’s, Conduit Services and the Hamilton Seventh-day Adventist Church as well as WRC staff and volunteers.

Ms Laws said: “The Women’s Resource Centre would like to thank our most valued donors who partnered with us to make this wonderful event possible.”