By Karen Poh
WILLIAMSTOWN’S Holy Trinity Anglican Church is calling on residents to donate tinned and preserved foodstuff to keep up with the rising number of people seeking assistance for emergency relief.
This follows a report by Star last week, which found that more than 6000 residents, or 7.8 per cent of the adult population in Hobsons Bay, ran out of food or could not afford to buy more food last year.
Volunteer counsellor Lyn Thomas has helped out with emergency relief since the parish hall began dishing out meals to the needy four or five years ago.
“I’m not sure if it’s because we’re becoming more well known, but I think we’ve got more than 2000 people on our books now,” Ms Thomas said.
“We have a lot of people from the Housing Commission units across the road, single parents struggling to keep up with fees and people who have drug problems.
“And they range from all age groups, from 18 to mid-60 and over,” Ms Thomas said.
“Because our finances are stretched and stretched with the number of extra people, we can only give them food vouchers three times a year.
“But in between time, we have a food bank here, which can make up small parcels to tide them over.
“People can come in and have morning tea and lunch on the days that we’re open, and that’s unconditional,” Ms Thomas said.
The church’s Reverend Lynda McMinn said the statistics were not surprising.
“Because that’s what we see. We’re at the end of the line here. I live at the vicarage and there’s often people at the door as well as people who go over to the emergency relief.
“Lunch numbers have definitely gone up, people looking for meals and food parcels and assistance generally,” she said.
Pensions have failed to keep pace with inflation, and people are struggling to survive, Reverend McMinn said.
“I think people’s ability to manage on pensions has really become difficult. And anyone who’s having a very small fixed income is really finding it hard to keep up with rent and food.
“This is not just been in the last year where things have got significantly worse, but for a time, they’ve been falling behind in terms of the ratio of what an average wage is,” she said.
Bruce Hatt is a regular face at the parish hall on the corner of Pasco and Aitken streets.
The 62-year-old lives by himself in a Housing Commission unit in Williamstown North and receives $540 a fortnight on a disability pension.
“You could do with more,” Mr Hatt said.
But he is grateful for the service the church provides.
“It’s good here, everyone’s friendly.
“I come when I’m short of money, when I have to pay the gas and light bills,” he said.
The church is urging the community to chip in, and the parish hall is a stone’s throw away from the popular shopping and dining strips along Nelson Place and Ferguson streets.
“It’s amazing the number of people who don’t realise the poverty that is here,” Ms Thomas said.
“You see all of these up-market shops, the extremely expensive homes, it’s a very social area, and right across the road here are all of these faceless people that don’t get noticed.
“It is a reflection of the inequality that exists in society, and especially in this area,” she said.
A little contribution can go a long way, Reverend McMinn said.
“One way they could help is to buy something extra in their shopping every week, something that’s in a tin or preservable, and bring it to the parish pantry,” she said.
