A Catholic church in Tamworth, New South Wales, is helping to bring HOPe to the city’s vulnerable homeless citizens with the launch of a new soup kitchen. Source: Northern Daily Leader.
Deacon Paul Manvell said the Mary Help of Christians Church had held its first ever HOPe Kitchen, last Wednesday at a local Scout club, aiming to help the neediest in the city.
Deacon Paul said the Catholic community had to step in when injustice was taking place in its community.
He said that’s what the Church has done for 2000 years, including Australia’s first saint, St Mary MacKillop, who said if you see something that needs doing, do it.
The HOPe Kitchen, which stands for the Heart of Peace Kitchen, was spun off an earlier effort to provide food for farmers, which evolved into pandemic assistance for others.
Deacon Paul said where the earlier aid campaigns had donated groceries, many homeless people don’t have microwaves or stoves.
This time, the church is cooking a hot, slow-cooked meal for the neediest.
He said the cost of rent in regional Australia has increased by 30 per cent in two years but the benefits for unemployed, for illness and sickness, old age pensions haven’t increased by 30 per cent.
Deacon Paul said people need to keep the roof over their heads, and they’re losing some meals to do it. And that’s where the HOPe kitchen steps in.
FULL STORY
Mary Help of Christians Church offers HOPe, meal to city’s most needy in new South Tamworth soup kitchen (By Andrew Messenger, Northern Daily Leader)
