Soccer with soul was played with gusto when an annual fundraising match for Williamstown’s Helping Hand Cafe was held this month, supporting some of the community’s most in need in the lead-up to Christmas.
Now in its 11th year, the cafe is a weekly meals program at Williamstown Church of Christ open to anyone wanting a free two-course meal and a food parcel to take away.
Founder Robert Adams, a former street kid, said people came for the company as well as the food.
“It’s just about feeding the community, helping people in the flats, anyone on the street that needs a meal, or just wants to come down to chat to people if they’re lonely,” he said. “I’ve just done close to 22,000 meals.”
Mr Adams said that for the past eight years, Williamstown MP Wade Noonan had donated funds to the cafe from the annual soccer match.
Mr Noonan said this year’s match pitted a team of “ageing amateurs” against the cream of Bayside College’s deep pool of soccer talent.
“This is a chance to live out the Christmas message by helping our neediest neighbours whilst indulging our dreams of sporting prowess and glory on the pitch,” Mr Noonan said.
Helping Hand Cafe will hold its annual Christmas party on Tuesday, December 20, from 11am. For a $4 donation, guests will enjoy a roast meal and take home a food parcel.
