LIEUTENANT Dominic Wallis from The Salvation Army was on radio on Friday, talking about the Salvos’ Christmas appeal.
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This year he estimated the local Salvos would help 250 households with food and supermarket vouchers to help them through the festive season.
He also reflected on how the lead-up to Christmas – what should be a joyful time of year – for many people was a time of sadness, a time when their poverty or isolation was brought into sharp and stark focus.
So it is doubly sad that the annual charity Christmas lunch at the Nowra Showground will not proceed this year because of a combination of a lack of volunteers and illness among the organisers.
Demonstrating the demand for the lunch was an annual attendance of more than 100 souls who would otherwise be spending the day on their own.
Thankfully, Nowra City Church will again be putting on a Christmas dinner but another event south of the river would not go astray.
As a community, it is important to do our best to see no one is left out on Christmas Day. There are a number of ways to help.
Donating gifts at the Wishing Tree and Mayor’s Giving Box is a start. This will bring a little for children from poor families who would otherwise go without a present.
Looking in on neighbours you know are alone is another. The small gesture of fellowship on a day when families are gathered all around them can help make a lonely person feel so much better.
And, of course, if people could step forward to take the baton being passed by the Esdailes, who have run the showground Christmas lunch for the past six years, well, that would be the icing on the Christmas cake, wouldn’t it?