By Molly Magennis
The Salvation Army Hobsons Bay are bringing Christmas cheer to those in need this festive season.
Hobsons Bay Scouts packed 80 bags full of Christmas hampers for people to collect throughout December leading up to Christmas Day.
Salvation Army Lieutenant Star Conliffe said not only will families in need receive a hamper and a food voucher, but any child that drops in will be able to come in and pick out a toy for Christmas.
“We get some pretty amazing donations of toys through the Kmart wishing tree, but also this year we have a number of amazing local businesses who run toy drives and have some incredible donations of toys that will make Christmas day really special for some of our families,” she said.
The Hobsons Bay Salvo’s can’t hold their usual Christmas day lunch this year due to COVID, so they’ve changed things around to make sure the event is accessible to everyone as possible.
“Instead it’s a big Christmas barbecue party in the park, it’s going to be outdoors, and it’s going to be in Laverton which is an area that we go to every Friday night with our soup van, so we already have a bit of a community there,” Ms Conliffe said.
The aim of the barbecue is to bring a bit of Christmas spirit to Laverton, Ms Conliffe said.
“This year we thought we would take Christmas to them instead of getting them to come to us.”
The barbecue will take place on Christmas Eve at 6pm at Lohse Reserve, with Santa set to make a special appearance.
Anyone and everyone is welcome to come along, regardless of their vaccination status.
