Christian Outreach Centre helps ease the pressure of Christmas

Volunteers at the Narrabri Christian Outreach Centre lent a helping hand to those struggling in the community over the festive season.

Volunteers began donating their time on the morning of December, 19, 2019 by sorting hampers which were then donated to members of the Narrabri community who needed the most.

By that afternoon some hampers had already found their destination with many volunteers personally delivering the packages.

The products in the hampers were donated by the Narrabri community and Coles Narrabri. The Christmas donations included essentials and a few treats for everyone in the family.

Volunteer Travis Lions said the hamper donation helps a lot of people in need.

“We ended up getting 24 hampers all together out of all the stuff we received,” said Mr Lions.

“Through word-of-mouth we were able to find people in our local area to distribute it to.

“Some were farmers, some were local people that we knew were doing it tough, single parent families, young families.

“A few people who I got to visit personally were just so thankful to everybody who contributed towards it.

“It’s just these little things that help in the grand scheme of everything else going on.”

Mr Lions said the volunteers helped handout the hampers all across the Narrabri region.

“It was all within the Narrabri Shire,” he said.

“There were some at Wee Waa, out the back of Yarrie Lake and a few near Bellata.

“It was a range of people from different places but all within the Narrabri Shire.”

Mr Lions told The Courier that the help from all the people who gave up their time makes the process flow smoothly.

“We get everything done a lot quicker with so many volunteers,” said Mr Lions.

“We can distribute them quickly but we also can deliver them personally.

“With the amount that we had and with Coles and everyone else who pitched in we were able the have it all together in a couple of hours and even distributed some that afternoon.

“It was less stressful because we were able to do it really well and really quickly.”