Sharing Christmas leftovers provided parties for others and created new links with some new groups.
On Boxing Day, volunteers Vic and Jim arrived at 8am to begin the clean-up. Amazingly, within two hours they had dismantled the tables, stacked the chairs and had the carport and back-yard clean as a whistle.
But our work wasn’t done yet. We then proceeded to:
- Pack the left-over festive food into large baskets and transport it to the two nearest Boarding Houses. This provided the makings of another party for their residents.
- Deliver three large boxes of tinned food, cans of soft drink, children’s toys and toiletries to the Asylum Seekers’ Centre currently at Surry Hills.
- Organise a pick up, by one of our other volunteers Yvonne, to drive a collection of cosmetics, toiletries, calendars and other gifts to residents of Group Homes up on the Central Coast.
- Pack away for distribution later this winter, multiple woollen clothing, scarves and socks for a collection of Boarding Houses.
- Bring order back to the rooms under Gethsemane Community house with ungifted toiletries and socks providing the beginnings of collections for next year’s Christmas project.