Ten years ago, Sarah Page was suffering postnatal depression after a difficult pregnancy, as well as an autism diagnosis for her beloved 18-month-old son Max. But from her despair emerged a heartwarming charity that’s helping tens of thousands of families in need across Aotearoa.
This season, Sarah’s award-winning foundation is donating brand-new presents to 22,000 Kiwi kids, spreading festive magic and above all, kindness.
The Christmas Joy Store, New Zealand’s first social toy shop, was started by Sarah in 2020 as a part of her nationwide charity Kindness Collective. The pop-up store provides gifts of choice for families struggling to make ends meet, inviting parents to shop for free and pick toys their kids will love to open on Christmas morning.
“I started the Kindness Collective as a way of giving back after a really challenging period in my life,” says Sarah, 43, who is based in Auckland. “I enjoyed helping others and felt useful, and gradually, I noticed my postnatal depression lifting.”
After struggling to become pregnant and then suffering miscarriages, Sarah, at the time a successful marketing manager, was overjoyed when she finally became a mother to Max, now 11. But following a difficult pregnancy, she fell into depression.
When Sarah and her husband Dave, 51, noticed Max wasn’t reaching the usual baby and toddler milestones, they had him assessed privately and Max was diagnosed with autism.
Secret Santas! Sarah and son Max are excited about giving a sackload of goodies to others.
“It was hard in those first few years because Max didn’t sleep and wasn’t able to communicate easily, which meant it was harder to give him what he needed,” recalls Sarah.
“There’s not a lot of support in New Zealand for families of children with autism unless you have money to access private support. Fortunately, we could afford amazing therapy that gave Max the tools to navigate a world that’s not set up for people with neurodiversities.”
Sarah describes her Minecraft- and Roblox-loving son as “funny, sassy and hilarious”. Max has what she calls a “beautiful brain”, and
his sweet and kind nature means he tells Sarah multiple times a day he loves her.
However, after Sarah joined a Facebook group for parents of kids with autism when Max was little, she realised some families had two, three or four children with autism and could barely afford to feed them, let alone access therapy. She also learnt that people who have a child with a disability in New Zealand are more likely to live in poverty.
“That’s when I searched for a way to give back because while I couldn’t change the way the Government spends its money and prioritises childhood disability, I could feed these families,” shares Sarah, who works up to 80 hours some weeks.
“We started a mobile food bank and began delivering to local community groups.”
The mobile food bank started with 50 family and friends giving food, and soon doubled, before Sarah noticed kids in safehouses weren’t receiving presents at Christmas. She began collecting gifts and in her first year, 2014, she donated 42 presents for children.
Three years ago, Kindness Collective became an official charity, and last year, it provided 33,000 gifts for 10,000 children thanks to the goodwill of individual Kiwis donating, and also from brands such as Lego, Cadbury and Barbie manufacturer Mattel.
Sarah launched her first Joy Store in Auckland after lockdown, followed by a second in Hawke’s Bay. They’re open from the start of December until the 22nd.
“Parents come in, get given a shopping basket and walk around the store to pick three gifts for their child, as well as food and treats,” explains Sarah, who is starting a Joy Store in Christchurch next year.
“We want to give them an hour out of their month where they don’t have to worry and can go shopping without thinking about the price. It’s a beautiful-looking store and we have 850 volunteers we call our Santa’s helpers, who work really hard to make our shoppers feel like VIPs.”
As well as receiving help from public donations, Kindness Collective is thankful for businesses around the nation who put up Giving Trees, which invite people to donate gifts at Christmas that the companies then distribute within their communities.
Kiwi singer Stan Walker also got on board by releasing his festive song Te Toi O Te Kirihimete (Favourite Part About Christmas) in November, which features an animated video encouraging people to donate. All proceeds from downloads of his single will also go to Sarah’s charity.
“Christmas was always very magical for me as a child and it’s still my favourite time of year,” says Sarah, who was a semi-finalist in Local Hero of the Year 2023. “I get very excited about it and make everybody get really excited about it!
“Our tree goes up at home in November and I start playing Christmas music. I just love this season, which is why I built the Joy Store. It’s the greatest privilege that we can bring Christmas to thousands of other families as well.”
The Kindness Collective still has 4000 children on the wait list for the Christmas Joy Store and needs at least 15,000 toys. To donate, visit kindness.org.nz/joystore.
