Making Christmas better for Margaret River locals

Thanks to Lotterywest, the Margaret River Community Centre (MRCC) will be providing food hampers and cooler bags with chickens and vegetables to help make Christmas meals a little brighter for the local people and families experiencing financial and food insecurity.

The centre has been providing food hampers at Christmas for 22 years.

“This year will be a bit different as there will be no community food and toy donations to choose from and we will be providing local vouchers to give people better choice of goods,” MRCC’S Leanne Sutton said.

“Many households are facing hard times and struggling to get by with rent and interest rates rising alongside rising costs of living that are not mirrored with wage increases.

“We are seeing a lot more people accessing our ’emergency relief funding’ this year. People can hang on far too long before seeking help and we encourage people needing a little extra support before Christmas to contact us.”

Many locals contribute to bring the hampers together each year, including the generous voucher donations from the Lions Club of Margaret River, the volunteers who give their time to pack the bags, and the cards that are made by the children at Margaret River Montessori School.

“Nanas on the Mend and the Boomerang Bag ladies have again produced a Christmas miracle, making over 110 hamper bags using upcycled and donated fabric and cottons over two sewing bees and hours of sewing at home,” Leanne said.

Organiser Nirala Hunt said this year’s fabric was donated by the late Jess Collins form Karridale.

“I hope the beautiful batik fabrics in the Christmas Hampers can reflect a little of the generosity, kindness and good humour in which Jess lived her life,” she said.

Hamper Day will be on Wednesday 20 December.

If you, or someone you know, would like to register to receive a food hamper, please call on 9757 3200 or visit the office between 9am and 1pm Monday to Friday.

Vouchers and monetary donations are gratefully accepted to support the people in your community.