Anglicare Sydney and All Saints Anglican Church, Nowra, have teamed up to provide low-cost food for those in need in the community.
Stocked with household pantry items, Anglicare Sydney’s Mobile Community Pantry will be arriving at 70 Plunkett Street, every fortnight to distribute food from 1:30pm – 2:30pm, 10 April. For a $10 contribution, families who need to stretch their budget further will be able to take home a shopping bag full of food worth about $60.
For Senior Minister at All Saints, Geoff Thompson, this initiative is a way for people to express love and compassion.
“We are a Church that wants to express the love and compassion of God to the community of the Shoalhaven. We have done this through our emergency relief program, All Saints Community Care, for 30 years,” Geoff explains.
“Our partnership with Anglicare makes sense. As we thought of the changing needs of the community over the last ten years, we realised that there are many who are struggling and need to stretch their limited resources a lot further. Anglicare’s Mobile Community Pantry helps people achieve this.
“There will be opportunities for customers to sit and have some afternoon tea. Our Church also hosts an evening meal which follows at 6pm.”
When asked what the Church hopes to achieve through the Mobile Community Pantry, Geoff’s answer is practical and spiritual.
“We want to empower people struggling with limited finances. Through the Community Pantry we hope All Saints Community Care can offer other services like financial counselling and emergency relief,” he says.
“We believe that for people to flourish they need a hand up, not just a handout. The Bible teaches us to help others, so we hope this small act of compassion reflects God’s great love for us all.”
Media contact: publicaffairs@anglicare.org.au