As Christmas tension builds, one Tauranga man is doing his bit to help relieve the pressure for families.

Tauranga local Kale Kirk is running a Santa gift drop which will involve him collecting gifts for those who would otherwise go without, and then dropping them off on Christmas Eve.

His motivation for the initiative comes from what he describes as a moment of realisation.

'I started going through my Christmas shopping for other people and got to a point where I had spent about $500 to $1000 on some people and something in my head just clicked.

'I realised there's people out there who don't have the same opportunity to spend money like this.

'I have a friend in Auckland who has his own charity, Unite Aotearoa, and he has been running food donation events since the start of the year.

'A lot of my inspiration has come from that and I thought it would be a great idea to reach to my community too.”

He says it's something that hits close to home too.

'When I was younger I remember my mum having to go to the food bank on certain weeks, just so we had enough to get by. I haven't grown up with a privileged life by any means.”

Now he's in search of people who need a lift too.

'I started a Givealittle page looking for people who wanted to put some money forward to go towards purchasing the gifts.

"A lot of people don't have anyone they can put forward but they are willing to donate to the page.”

He has shared the page on his own social media as well as local Facebook groups and says the traction is building.

'Everyone loves the idea, but the general consensus I'm seeing is people are too proud to accept help.

'I guess it's kind of refreshing to hear that people are more willing to give than they are to take, but I do want to try track down some people to help.

'No one wants to put their name forward, everyone would rather help and I am wanting to find the people who hide away and won't typically accept help from others even when they do need it.”

He hopes spreading the word about his initiative can help encourage people to nominate themselves or other families.

'I've heard some cool stories so far. One person who got in contact is a single mother and the dad of her children left the picture a few years ago.

'Christmas has been pretty tough for them over the past couple years.

'When she reached out to me, she wasn't asking for help, instead she wanted to put forward money as soon as she got paid – even though she only had like four or five dollars to give.

'I managed to convince her to let me help her though.”

Those who want to nominate themselves should to do by getting in touch via email at: kalekirk@icloud.com

Entries must include an address, the age of the person the gift will be going to and a blurb on what they are interested in.

'Basically from that information I'll pick out some deserving people and use the money donated to go and buy the appropriate gifts for each person.”

Kale says he plans to drop the presents off to the parents of the families who have been nominated on Christmas Eve, accompanied by some helpers from within his family.

'I want these families to have that special experience of opening presents together on Christmas morning.”

For more information or to donate to the initiate visit: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/nz-santa-run