Manaakitanga - the process of showing respect, generosity and care for others. We respect the trust placed in us by caregivers who nominate children and the time, effort and money santas contribute. This project started from people simply asking others in their community help to get presents for children and the facebook community responded. While the scale of this project has grown, the kaupapa of atawhai (kindness and care) remains the same. We respect the mana of all whanau and do not judge anyone's circumstances. We only have one person viewing the complete form data to ensure your data is kept private and secure. Anyone in Lower Hutt can apply to get presents for children. This is a facilitated peer to peer secret santa and has no institutional barriers. The generosity and care shown by our santas every year is astounding and we are proud to facilitate giving to children in our community.

Connecting - we know that there are lots of people in our community who want to get involved and make a difference. It can be hard to know ways to help and to get help from others in our community. We believe that there is a village of santas who care about children and whanau. This project is about connecting people and increasing hauora.

Transparency - we aim to be transparent about our policies, processes and motivations so that caregivers can trust us to facilitate this project and santas know we are being careful stewards of their time, resources and money. We are open and transparent about the amount of money raised and how it is spent.

Simplicity- we want to make it as easy as possible to be part of this project and to remove barriers. Many people are time poor and  have a lot of commitments. We want this project to be a seamless way to spread Christmas joy for both santas and children. We welcome any feedback on ways to improve.

Collaboration - this project is a way to import Amy's knowledge and skills from running the Secret Santa programme for nearly 5 years. We want to share knowledge and processes with groups in other areas and future proof the project in case Amy moves on to other projects. We also aim to connect with existing projects doing mahi in the same space.

Accessibility - we work to remove barriers to participation for caregivers and santas.

Reflection - open to feedback, adaption and finding ways to better meet the needs of our community. Please let us know if you have any feedforward, comments or suggestions.

Joy -  This project is fuelled by the excitement of creating and sharing Christmas magic with children in our community. Santas love spreading christmas magic and making christmas special for children. The joy and delight children have in receiving gifts and knowing that their community cares about them is immense. The rituals and traditions of Christmas are what makes it memorable, magical and special. We hope this project can be a meaningful part of people's Christmas traditions. 

Contact rita@huttcommunity.co.nz to get more information on the project