The McEwan family of Dubbo was devastated in February when thieves trashed their house while they were in Sydney with their premature twins, but found their luck changing yesterday.

Among the items stolen from their home were Chrisco hampers and the company could not let the family’s plight go by without assisting.

Chrisco customer services manager Michele Deacon and husband Jim arrived at the McEwans’ yesterday morning like “angels in a van”.

On board the Deacons had toys for the four children and household appliances.

Lorinda and Gianna McEwan were soon impressed with their new toys, saying “wow” and “thank you”.

“Apart from my family, this is the greatest gift,” Mrs McEwan said.

“This is more than we could expect,” Mr McEwan said.

“When Chrisco rang and told us they were coming, I thought of food, I had no idea about all this, it’s a real shock.”

Mrs McEwan’s high-risk pregnancy forced her to Sydney in November last year.

Into the 29th week of her pregnancy she gave birth to twins Allegra-Jo and Chelsie in December.

Last year Christmas was out of a vending machine, Mrs McEwan said.

The family remained by the twins’ Liverpool Hospital bedside as they battled for survival and then endured the blow of a trashed house.

“We wanted them to have some nice, new stuff,” Mrs Deacon said.

“Monique told me that because of the long stay in Sydney she missed out on being there for the Chrisco delivery, one of the year’s highlights.

“We thought, we’ve got to help them.”

The babies have been home for three weeks and are improving all the time.

“The girls are so healthy, they’re putting on weight and are now about 3.4kg,” Mrs McEwan said.

“They’re demanding feeding more every day.

“Lorinda and Gianna are like little mums.”

The family has been able to fix their house up with the help of Emmanuel Care and the Men’s Shed and can now start again with the gifts.

“I won’t be able to wipe the grin from my face,” Mrs McEwan said.

faye.wheeler@ruralpress.com