A family of three got their first Christmas gift in 2017: a $5 voucher to a local thrifting store.
The kids were just a few of the children from an inner-city inner-cities community that had a small number of stores and a number of different kinds of products.
The three kids from the community, aged between 11 and 15, had never been to a shopping centre before and they said they wanted to spend the money on toys and games.
The store owner, who did not want to be named, said the community was known for its “big old-fashioned” Christmas tree decorations and Christmas decorations, with a big red “T” on the front of their store.
“We wanted to try and take it to the next level,” the store owner said.
“And we wanted to bring a bit of tradition back to our town.”
The family of 3 had also decided to get rid of all their old clothes, as they wanted their kids to grow up to be “clean, happy and smart”.
“I was thinking we should go for the smaller, cheaper stuff, like clothes and shoes,” the family member said.
The two adults who helped out with the shopping trip said they found the kids “really helpful”.
“They were really enthusiastic about it,” one of the adults said.
It was a big day for the community when the kids returned home.
The first thing the family did was make a list of all the items they wanted the kids to buy, which included a variety of different toys.
One of the boys started asking his parents to help with the stocking stuffers, a wooden stocking that can hold several toys.
The family bought about 15 of them and handed them out to the kids, who were “overwhelmed”.
They were so excited that the boys, aged 11 and 12, started to ask for more.
The adults said the kids were “just really excited” to find the new toys.
“They asked us, ‘Where do you get these stuff?’ and ‘Can you get more for me?’ and we were like, ‘Yeah, of course’,” the store manager said.
But the store’s owner said they were only able to stock 20 of the toys.
She said the toys “aren’t really that big”.
“So, you’re not going to buy a bunch of these, right?,” the shop manager said, laughing.
“But they are really, really big, so they’re a lot of fun.”
The three boys had been shopping in the mall, but the parents decided to stop at a nearby supermarket.
The children said they didn’t really have time to go shopping because they were already busy getting ready for their school year.
“When they go to school, they’re like, there’s nothing in school that’s really good for us,” one boy said.
Another boy said: “I’ll buy a few new clothes for them, but that’s it.”
The store manager told the ABC the family’s family was not aware of the problem.
The parents and the kids all had their own toys.
Photo: ABC News A local council had also been alerted to the situation, and the community’s leader had written to the ABC, asking if it could help to find solutions.
The ABC spoke to the family who were in a “really good mood” when they got home, with the family of two saying they were “so excited” about the new toy.
“It’s a big surprise,” the father said.