Waroona Family Support Service and St Vincent de Paul come together for town’s Christmas hamper appeal

A group of Waroona volunteers are set to make Christmas a bit better for those less fortunate. Waroona St Vincent de Paul and Waroona Family Support Service have come together once again for this year’s Christmas hamper appeal. St Vincent de Paul Waroona president Kathy Gurr said the need for the service was increasing every year. “About 20 years ago when Vinnies started doing this the local volunteers would assemble a small amount of hampers in their own homes, probably no more than 10 were distributed,” she said. “Last year we had about 120 families register to receive a hamper and we ended up doing over 150.” As part of preparations for the appeal, St Vincent de Paul members had been collecting banana boxes from Waroona IGA each day since October. The boxes were held in storage before being transported to the Waroona Memorial Hall on Monday where they became the base for the hampers. Banana boxes are chosen for the hampers due to their size, strength and their ability to be easily stacked in storage. A crew of community volunteers filled the boxes with items including fresh produce, pantry goods and childrens’ Christmas gifts. “The young (Waroona) Leos in particular volunteer their help for all the three days of set up and distribution,” Ms Gurr said. Although the groups did receive a contribution of goods as part of a Peel region appeal, a significant portion of the hamper fillers came from donations collected from across the town. “St Joseph’s School always donate an enormous amount as a whole school event,” Ms Gurr said. “Plus, the people of Waroona have been very generous with donations left in bins at the IGA and Waroona Library.” Anyone interested in helping out in 2023 is asked to get in touch with Waroona Family Support Service.