They're a couple of Christmas food angels. Tauranga sisters Katie Milgate and Renee Hanna, who saw a desperate need and set out to fill it.

First they came up with some numbers.

'One-thousand – that sounds good,” says Katie. 'Let's go with 1000.”

This number being how many gift parcels they're going to construct and distribute to those who really need it.

Forty – the dollar value of each parcel, enough food for a couple of meals, treats and some produce. And 200 – approximately – the army of volunteers conscripted to do the donkey work, to pack and to distribute.

And to understand the enormity of the task, there are 76 cartons of biscuits to be broken down and re-apportioned to each of the 1000 parcels. The biscuits are just one component.

And perhaps the number two – the two Milgate sisters, Katie the creative, the idea's person and Renee, the logistics queen. 'She's incredible,” says Katie. So how did this all come about?

'After Easter in the Park, I was wondering what we could do for Christmas,” says the idea's person. 'And I thought it would be a whole lot simpler just to give everyone something.”

A spontaneous act of goodwill at a time of giving, but major organisational undertaking.

First they needed about 4000 sponsors for each of the $40 food parcels.

'Our Mosaic Church is an incredibly generous one,” says Katie. Some people sponsored one bag of groceries; others two and three. 'Some sponsors paid for 10 parcels.”

Anyhow, what would have appeared to be a daunting target of $40,000 was achieved in just two weeks. 'When everyone understands their small contribution can go a long way, then things can happen.”

Where did the food come from? 'Well, New World has been incredibly supportive.” Katie and Renee gave the supermarket buyers a shopping list and whenever those goods came on special, the buyers would swoop.

'The upshot is the $40 food parcels will probably contain $50 or $60 worth of food.”

Everything's ticking so far. Then, next Thursday the packers move into the church, the food is pulled from storage and parcelled. The hard-yards begin.

Next Friday is distribution day. 'A huge operation with vans, trailers and people. Lots of people,” says Katie.

So 500 parcels will go to Home of Hope, the good people who provide foster care to abused or neglected children. Some will go to Women's Refuge, some to patients in need at Tauranga Hospital, others to Angel Child, the group that looks after families with a parent in prison; and a few parcels will go to a group of teenage mums at a local high school.

Then they will set out on a 'milk run style of thing”, dropping off 500 parcels of cheer in the less fortunate streets of Papamoa, Arataki, Merivale and Greerton.

This is the anatomy of just one food drive for Christmas. There are others. But this one says something about the seasonal spirit of goodwill and two young women in our community.

'We just wanted to give something back to the community at Christmas. And we thought ‘what's more practical than food?'” says Katie.