The Cooma Corps of The Salvation Army has again made Christmas for people experiencing hardship a little easier with Christmas food hampers and a variety of gifts available. The Salvos, along with other charity organisations within the Snowy Monaro, are bringing some Christmas cheer and relief to individuals and families who need it the most. Residents from across the region who had filled out an online or paper application form visited ‘Community of Hope’, the Salvation Army office in Vale Street, Cooma, last Wednesday to collect their hampers and choose presents. Any leftover hampers/gifts were offered for pick up yesterday (Tuesday). There were 100 food hampers available and tables full of toys and age-appropriate gift ideas for eligible children. Any books containing batteries and suitable for pre-schoolers have been passed on to Cooma Car Club’s, Tony Nassar, who, in his traditional Christmas character role, will distribute them to children when he visits the smaller schools in the district. People in need from across the Snowy Monaro were welcome to pick up Christmas items from the Cooma office of the Salvation Army. “Depending on where they come from we might throw in a fuel gift card too, so it’s no cost to them to drive to Cooma from places like Bombala,” auxiliary lieutenant, Bryan Bartlett, said prior to the collection day. All the applicants were presented with some monetary assistance as well. The aim this year was for parents to be able to choose the gifts for their children without clashing with school scheduled end-of-year-events, so the “shopping” day was held a week earlier than past years. “We wouldn’t be able to do this without the community donations,” auxiliary-lieutenant, Debbie Bartlett, said. “Our Red Shield Appeal pays for some of this, plus some local schools like Jindabyne Public and Jindabyne High School, and community groups have been donating to the hampers and providing children’s toys, it’s just beautiful. “We also had some families dropping in food hampers, it will all be used.”
