SANTA may not wear a leather apron or drive a forklift, but his same spirit of giving has flowed from the Sydney Markets with free gift hampers delivered to those in need.
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Sydney Markets partnered with Auburn Police to hand over the grocery hampers to seniors, courtesy of Paddy's Markets.
The hampers contain a month's worth of food and hygiene essentials to help ease their cost of living expenses this holiday period.
Each basket contains pantry staples such as eggs and honey, as well as fresh produce such as grapes, bananas, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries.
The hampers also include basic living essentials like toothbrushes, toothpaste and body wash soap.
"Paddy's Markets partnered with Police and graciously donated some food hampers to the seniors," according to the Auburn Police Area Command's Facebook page.
"This helped to spread a little cheer over the festive season. All the hampers were received with plenty of positive feedback."
The Auburn Police were out this week in a white and blue "Santa Sleigh" dropping off the baskets to 22 seniors who are part of the Auburn Police's Seniors Care Register.
Seniors part of the program are either independently living and reside alone or have minimal family contact.
Sydney Markets chief executive officer, Brad Latham, said the organisation was delighted to continue to support the local Sydney community by sharing the amazing fresh produce from local growers.
"Christmas can be a challenging time for families and our elderly community, and we are thrilled to be able to contribute in so many ways this year," Mr Latham said.
"We wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."
In a separate initiative, Sydney Markets supplied more than 1000 pieces of fruit to the Special Children's Christmas Party that was hosted at Rosehill Racecourse earlier this year.
The children in attendance were from the greater Sydney region with conditions including terminal or life-threatening illness, intellectual or physical impairment or had come from an underprivileged background.
Sydney Markets supported the Special Children's Christmas Party by donating boxes of apples and bananas to the event which the children take to snack on while they are getting their toys from Santa's workshop.
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