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Feeding the hungry - and the soul of the Echuca-Moama community
WHILE most of you in the twin towns enjoyed a Christmas day with family and friends, almost 100 people – from the homeless to the lonely – were treated to a community occasion one person described as “an amazing group of people showing the true Christmas spirit”.
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Lockington’s Beryl Marshall said she had “the wonderful opportunity of being at the Echuca Moama Community Christmas lunch and I want to say a big thank you to Julie Sands and her team at Echuca Moama Community Projects (EMCP) for putting the lunch on”.
“Plus the other volunteers who gave of their time, helped serve a delicious roast lunch followed by desserts, and provided some entertainment,” Beryl said.
“Also a thank you to the numerous people and organisations who donated food and goodies in order to brighten Christmas for so many who otherwise may have had a quiet and lonely day,” she said.
“Thank you for caring and sharing. God bless you.”
It was a personal and moving tribute to the year-round work of Julie in pulling together absolutely everything needed to feed not just the people on the day but also to feed the very soul of the community.
Through her EMCP initiative Julie brings together a diverse team of helpers throughout the year and volunteers on Christmas Day to help cook, serve, entertain — and clean up after the lunch.
“But perhaps best of all, all these marvellous volunteers help people in the community engage with each other,” Julie said.
“This might be just a few hours out of just one day but to see our ‘table captains’ encouraging the people they are sitting with to interact with each other and provide someone who will not just talk to them but also listen to them is all the reward any of us need,” she said.
“Standing unseen behind them are all the businesses, companies and support groups who give us everything we need to make this day work so well.
“I don’t see it as sad that there are so many people who come to a lunch such as this; that is just life.
“I think the only part of the day that does leave me feeling a little down is we could not reach more people with the message of how welcome they would be to join us on the day.”
One first-time volunteer as a table captain said it would now be a fixture on her calendar.
She said she had staged her family Christmas as a tea on Christmas Eve so she would be free to help out at the EMCP lunch.
“The feeling you get by giving of yourself to the day is quite enriching. There’s no commercial side to clutter the occasion, beyond the generosity of so many commercial enterprises in supplying everything on the day,” she said.
“My husband, a good friend and I helped on our table and then with the serving of the meals, the washing in the kitchen and cleaning the hall after everyone had left.
“It was a remarkable way to spend Christmas Day and to see the smiles on so many faces that might otherwise have spent the day speaking to no-one, even going hungry and we thank Julie for her open offer to the whole community to take part.”
Julie said the day was founded on the commitment of her small army of helpers and the donations of time, money and goods and services from the following:
Echuca Workies
Riverine Herald
Uniting Church of Echuca Moama
Moama Bowling Club
Echuca Neighbourhood House
Echuca Central 208 school
St Joseph’s College
Woolworths Moama
Kiwanis Echuca Moama
N8
Beechworth Bakery
AutoBarn
Moama RSL
Simplot
Highside Motorcycles
Maree Farrow
Echuca Smallgoods
Echuca Newsagency
Echuca Specialist School
Echuca First Scouts
Forty Winks
Dollar Curtains and Blinds
Cadell Trading
Rich River Party Hire
Simone’s Hair Studio
Patterson Finance
I Want I Need
Port of Echuca Discovery Centre