AFTER thieves broke into their house and stole their presents, little B-Jay and Angel White were facing a pretty dire Christmas.
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But that all changed thanks to the generosity of complete strangers who, touched by the children’s plight, rallied and donated presents for the children to open on Christmas morning.
The children’s presents were stolen during a break-in at their Windradyne home early on Sunday morning.
Their mum, Kiara, had fallen ill and gone to Bathurst hospital, taking the children with her. But when they returned home a little over an hour later, they found someone had kicked in the front door, ransacked the bedrooms and stolen Christmas presents from under the tree.
News of the theft appalled the community, who after reading about what happened in the Western Advocate, dropped off gifts to both the family’s house and the paper so Kiara’s children wouldn’t have to go without.
Taken aback by the generosity of complete strangers, an emotional Kiara on Wednesday thanked everyone who had been so generous.
“I’m absolutely amazed what people, who I don’t even know, have done for my children,” she said. “Before the Western Advocate told Bathurst what had happened, there was no hope I could replace the gifts.
“But everyone has come together and helped us. It’s made me really believe in the spirit of Christmas.
“Without these people helping us, I don’t know what we would have done.”
Among those to donate to the family was a woman from Orange called Renee, who rang the paper wanting to help.
Renee said a similar thing happened to her a few years ago, and it made Christmas a nightmare.
Kiara said Big W in Orange, Pip McIntosh from Sportspower in Bathurst and other people had also dropped off pressies for the kids.
“These people really have hearts of gold, and I will never forget what they did for us,” she said. “And I’d like to send a big thank you to all of you.”
Sharnah Marsh, who also dropped off presents for the family, said she saw the story in the paper and started sharing the story on Facebook and encouraged people to try and help out.
“I just felt for those kids, I know things like this happen, but I didn’t want them to go without at Christmas,” Sharnah said.
“I’m just glad people have been able to help out and it looks like they will all have a good Christmas.”
