Cheer returns for burgled family

Press, 19 December 1989, Page 1

Cheer returns for burgled family

By BARRY CLARKE .< The bleak Christmas in store for a young ! Christchurch family whose home was ■ burgled last week has been averted by the generosity of two Christchurch residents. An unemployed truck driver, Mr Adrian Van Dorp, and his wife Kayleen, lost all the Christmas presents they had saved for during the year to give their three young children. Some household goods and an irreplaceable videotape of a friend who drowned recently were also stolen by the burglar

from their rented Linwood flat Since the Van Dorps’ plight was highlghted on December 12, cheques for $2OO and $lOO have been sent anonymously to “The Press.” These have been forwarded to the family. Mrs Van Dorp said yesterday: “It’s lovely. It’s marvellous what people do. It’s very thoughtful of those people.” The Van Dorp children had faced a Christmas without-presents. “We had a Christmas tree, a macrocarpa branch actually. We had it outside and when

we asked the kids to bring it in they said there wasn’t much point because there were no presents. “Now it’s inside with lights on it. We’re going to have a Christmas after all,” she said. But the family is disappointed the videotape has not been found. It contains footage of a close family friend, Mr Bruce Samuels, at Victoria Park about two years ago. Mr Samuels- drowned on a fishing trip at Lake lanthe, 60km south of Hokitika, on November 1.