{"id":331891,"date":"2025-12-07T02:50:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T02:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/331891\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T02:50:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T02:50:09","slug":"kikau-launches-heartwarming-christmas-toy-drive-in-fiji-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/331891\/","title":{"rendered":"Kikau launches heartwarming Christmas toy drive in Fiji &#8211; NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/teams\/canterbury-bankstown-bulldogs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Canterbury Bulldogs<\/a> enforcer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/viliame-kikau\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Viliame Kikau<\/a> is set to play the role of Santa Claus this Christmas as he returns home to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/international-teams\/fiji\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fiji<\/a> to deliver toys to hundreds of underprivileged children across the Pacific nation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kikau, through his Kikau Academy, has partnered with Australian toy company Kidstuff to organise a two-day toy drive on December 19\u201320, distributing gifts to orphanages, women&#8217;s shelters and children&#8217;s charities throughout <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/international-teams\/fiji\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fiji<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The initiative aims to bring joy to families doing it tough this festive season, but for Kikau, the cause is deeply personal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cGrowing up in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/international-teams\/fiji\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fiji<\/a>, I remember Christmas being a difficult time for many families who couldn&#8217;t afford to buy gifts for their kids,\u201d Kikau said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThose memories have always stayed with me.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-144105\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"NRLMelCanb364\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/NRLMelCanb364.jpg.webp.webp\"\/>Viliame Kikau during the round two NRL match between the Melbourne Storm and Canterbury Bulldogs at AAMI Park on March 11, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Grimes\/Zero Digital Sports)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cWe came up with this initiative because we wanted to give back to families who are doing it tough back home and make this Christmas a bit more joyous for them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIf we can put a smile on these kids&#8217; faces by giving them toys, then it&#8217;s all worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kikau has long used his academy as more than just a development pathway for rugby league talent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">It regularly engages in community support programs aimed at creating opportunities and providing relief to families in need, particularly in his homeland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Bulldogs forward said he was grateful for the partnership with Kidstuff, which helped turn the idea into reality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cChristmas should be a special time for every child, and I&#8217;m grateful to Kidstuff and the Kikau Academy team for helping us make that happen for kids in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/international-teams\/fiji\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fiji<\/a> who need it most,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The toy drive is expected to reach hundreds of children across multiple regions, spreading Christmas cheer to communities often overlooked during the holiday season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canterbury Bulldogs enforcer Viliame Kikau is set to play the role of Santa Claus this Christmas as he&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-331891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}