The spirit of Christmas was alive and well on the Tweed in 2011 with more than 160 giving up Christmas lunch at home to help out at the annual Christmas lunch at Tweed Heads Civic Centre.
The volunteers helped to serve the more than 370 people who came in to spend Christmas – from the homeless and those struggling to make ends meet, to those who just didn’t want to spend Christmas on their own and others who wanted to teach their children the true meaning of Christmas.
With more than 500 people in the Civic Centre including a visit from Santa and lots of musical entertainment it was hard to be alone or lonely.
A new innovation this year was a special volunteers information night held a week or so before the big event.
“We had just over 70 people turn up for the volunteers information night which surpassed all our expectations,” Pat Tate, one of the organisers said.
“The Christmas Day lunch was a great success and went off very smoothly and I believe this was partly due to most of the volunteers arriving and already knowing just what they were to do and where they were to go.”
The annual Christmas lunch was started fourteen years ago by Karlene Polglase who was wife of then Mayor Warren Polglase. The event has continued to grow thanks to Karlene and in more recent times Salvation Army Officer Deborah Robinson, who has now left the area with her family to take up a new post in WA, and a dedicated band of volunteers.
