With Christmas quickly approaching, Wallan charity Love In Action is calling on the community to help it prepare for another season of blessing families in need.
The team is planning to supply hampers filled with Christmas groceries and children’s presents to 150-200 families in the Mitchell Shire area who require support – double, if not triple the amount they have supplied in previous years.
The Love In Action team also plans to host a free Christmas event ‘Don’t Spend Christmas Alone’ for the second year, sponsored by many local businesses including the Wallan Cricket Club.
President Sarah Brewer said the need for support this year in the community was bigger than ever, particularly with inflation in the cost of living and the lingering effects of the pandemic.
“In the past, it was families we knew of and now it’s just mortgage rates increasing and the cost of petrol, the cost of living inflation, it’s people that have never had to ask us before for help,” she said.
“We’ve got families who need to choose whether they put petrol in their car or put food on their tables, we’ve got some families where mum and dad rotate what night they eat so that their kids always do eat, and I don’t think people realise that’s happening in our local community.”
Ms Brewer said the Christmas period mades it even harder for individuals and families suffering isolation, financial and emotional turmoil in the area.
“We have people that tell us they actually cringe, they feel sick once the Christmas ads start, because they know for the next four weeks its the loneliest time of the year,” she said.
“All the ads are around family and ‘together’ and community – if you don’t have that, it’s so isolating.
“Some of the feedback we got last year was that the free Christmas event was the first time in ten years they’ve had somewhere to go on Christmas Day.”
Ms Brewer said to bless the enormity of families in need in the Mitchell Shire over Christmas, the team was desperate for continued community support.
“We’ve done a lot of fundraising, we’re really grateful for your help, but we’re really going to need some more help to be able to do this,” she said.
With their current donation tally, the Love In Action team estimates they could fill only half of the hampers that are needed.
“There’s definitely a worry amongst the group because we don’t like saying no [to families in need], but we do need an extra bit of help to not have to say no,” Ms Brewer said.
“If we can bless each of those families the same way, it would be incredible.”
The Love In Action team is asking for community donations in preparation for Christmas, including but not limited to chocolates, lollies, brand new toys, custard, shortbread, bon-bons, wrapping paper, and other Christmas foods.
Ms Brewer said the community can also find suitable donations in their cupboards at home, like tea, coffee, and long-life milk, so long as food products are unopened and in date.
“All of that helps take that pressure off,” she said.
Donation trolleys can be found at Vento Cafe in Wallan, Coles Wallan and Kilmore branches and LJ Hooker in Wallan.
Christmas trees will also soon be placed in Wallan, Kilmore and Broadford Bendigo Bank branches and Casual Cuts in Wallan, in which community members can take a label with the age and gender of a child in the community to purchase them a gift.
Ms Brewer said Love In Action couldn’t operate without the continued support of the community and was so grateful for residents who have donated over the past years.
“We couldn’t do what we do without the local individuals and businesses,” she said.
Community members can follow the Love In Action Facebook page to stay updated on upcoming fundraisers and opportunities to sponsor anonymous families in the area.
