Christmas at Santa Fe

Several weeks have somehow passed since Christmas, but we wanted to thank each and every one of you for your help in making Santa Fe a special place this festive season.

Nicole Bartley attended on behalf of Santa Fe, a very special Christmas Film Festival for under privileged and special needs children in Rockhampton. In conjunction with Rotary this festival is in its 15th year and caters to children aged 1 through to 18, as well as their parents, allowing them to spend the day at the cinema. The festival features blockbuster films prior to their release in an entirely booked out cinema complex, dedicated specifically to this event. Our contribution sponsored four children to attend the day, and we thank Nicole for bringing this great cause to our attention, allowing us the opportunity to give back to the community during the festive season.

While many of you found your own special ways to celebrate with colleagues this year, in Melbourne we had a brilliant evening of lawn bowls, as well as a morning tea on Christmas Eve which featured a charity raffle. The proceeds of this raffle exceeded $150, all of which will be donated to Red Kite to help support the families of children living with cancer.

Our Best Dressed Christmas Desk competition was a highlight of December, with branches across the country sending in their entries into the competition. There were some spectacular displays, and it was incredibly difficult to pick winners as the emails kept flooding in, from Rockhampton, to Tasmania, and Perth to Brisbane, we’re so very glad that you all embraced this initiative with such enthusiasm.

Congratulations to Brisbane and Melbourne, who came equal first place as it was simply to difficult to choose between the two. Brisbane went to the effort of actually building a Santa Fe Express, and multiple cubicles were involved in their epic effort to turn the entire office into a Christmas wonderland. Melbourne also went above and beyond our expectations creating a beautiful Christmas village in the cubicle of Sharon, Sharron and Dhana. The judges were particularly impressed by the plans to donate all of the toys involved in their display to children in need.

The Brisbane team, which comprised Mariola, Robyn, Celine, David, Judy, Carlie and Stacey also filmed a very cute video of their display which can be viewed by clicking here.

We also had a category for Best Dressed Vehicle, and our very worthy winner is the Rockhampton truck, which was decorated for their local Christmas parade. The truck looked stunning, and was a feature on our social media accounts during the festive season as it so perfectly illustrated our Christmas spirit at Santa Fe Wridgways. Our second place winners were Robert, Rachel and Jeff from the Perth Depot, who decorated the Ops desk and themselves in a brilliant display of festive frivolity.

Prizes are on the way for all of our winners, and thank you once again to all who participated. A special mention also, to Andrew Ruigrok who was the instigator and driving force behind this brilliant initiative. During our busy period it can be easy to miss out on some of the fun that December has to offer, and Andrew deserves at least partial credit for helping to make this Christmas at Santa Fe a great one!

Team Brisbane