WHAT an amazing community we live in.
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When the chips are down, residents pull together.
There is no better example than the Uniting Church volunteers reopening the Batemans Bay Pivot Point Community Outreach Centre’s service for those most in need.
There was an outpouring of anger when the federal government pulled its grant funding for the service in June.
It provided the community’s most desperate with groceries and funds for emergencies such as petrol for appointments, medical expenses, and large power bills.
With the shire’s high unemployment and unaffordable housing market for the community’s most vulnerable, services like these cannot be underestimated.
One resident who spoke to the Bay Post/Moruya Examiner in June said she had used the service as a last resort in hard times for the past four years.
“If it wasn’t for the service, I would have gone hungry a lot of times,” she said.
“I don’t know where I am going to go now.”
That parishioners have banded together to fund the service themselves demonstrates there is a desperate need.
It also demonstrates the heart and soul of our community, its generosity of spirit, and willingness to spring to action when the need arises.
Let’s hope the wider community comes on board the cause and supports the church in its quest.
It is disappointing, though, that we are forced to go it alone, particularly at a time of news politicians are spending taxpayer funds on over-the-top, and unnecessary, entitlements.
The funds from former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop’s now infamous chartered $5500 helicopter ride alone could have almost supplied a budget-conscious family with food for a year.
It is all about priorities. That’s food for thought.