D-day arrived yesterday at the Caringbah Baptist Church.
D stands for distribution of the church’s Christmas hampers to families who are doing it tough during the festive season.
Each month throughout the year, the volunteers at Caringbah Baptist Church assemble and distribute food hampers to needy families across the shire.
But at Christmas time they make an extra effort with the contents and presentation of the hampers.
Yesterday, under the direction of Caringbah Baptist Church’s Pastor Brian Summers, the volunteers assembled 40 hampers which will be distributed to families this week.
Caringbah Baptist Church volunteer coordinator Barbara Oliver said the hampers are distributed every month under the church’s Families in Need program.
“We raise the funds through a monthly barbecue within our church and from independent donations and we use proceeds to purchase groceries, fresh produce and dairy goods through Food Bank NSW, “ she said.
“Normally the work is done by seven or eight volunteers but this week we had 15 volunteers because we gift wrap the Christmas hampers.
“We also support the Women’s Refuge Centre and Young Girls’ Centre with food hampers.
“Every year Curves Women’s Gym at Caringbah have a food drive to help us and this year they gave us 22 bags of groceries.”
Lending a hand in assembling and distributing the Christmas hampers was Reverend George Capsis of the Christian Outreach Ministries.
“This is just one of the things that Caringbah Baptist Church does in the community with no fanfare,” Mr Capsis said.
“Volunteers spend hours putting the hampers together. These are full of good quality goods in keeping with the festive season.
“And families get more than just a hamper. They get three things, the hamper, a big bag of veggies and a bag of dairy products.
“The church then distributes these to families who are doing it tough, not just financially but emotionally.”
Yesterday, Mr Capsis distributed 11 of the hampers to families he knows through his work with Christian Outreach Ministries.
“There are a lot of people out there doing it tough this Christmas,” Mr Capsis said.
“If they receive a hamper it can really give them a lift.”