Farming families to get the gift of Christmas, care of GLENRAC and Ray White

Ray White principal Vickie Williamson said conditions are so tough in the worst drought on record many families have been forced to make hard financial choices.

"I think there'd be quite a few that won't be having Christmas this year," she said.

But GLENRAC and Ray White real estate have combined to help give farmers doing it tough the gift of a real Christmas.

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The real estate agency has already collected over 200 gifts to be distributed to farming families. But they still need more: everything from toys to vouchers, personal gifts and more.

They'll all be wrapped up and given a sticker identifying what's inside, with a label showing the intended gender and age of a recipient.

And the presents will be handed out by GLENRAC on December 22 at the showgrounds, at the rural conservation group's Christmas smoko event.

GLENRAC has been running smoko events almost all year.

Kylie Falconer attended a smoko at Glencoe just last week. She said the events were incredibly important for farmers looking to keep up their spirits.

"(They're) really important at the moment and often people don't make time for that," she said.

"We've had a smoko this morning out at Glencoe and the level of talk while we were having a cup of tea and morning tea, was amazing.

"It's really good, once you make the effort to get out everyone enjoys it.

The Christmas smoko is set for the Sunday before Christmas - a weekend - and Ms Falconer hopes this will make it more inclusive.

Attendees are not obligated to take a gift; farmers can front up just for an opportunity to catch up, free of charge.

The charity program is run through Ray White's annual 'little ray of giving' which involves sourcing gifts from the community and delivering them to a charity for distribution.

Both of Glen Innes' real estate businesses now share a wall, with metro and rural real estate businesses moving in together in October.