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Canterbury-Bankstown Council generously granted St Merkorious Charity $4,000 in emergency funds to support our food relief service in the Canterbury-Bankstown area during the COVID-19 2021 lockdowns

Hard lockdowns had proven to be tough for everyone. More people than ever needed the support of food relief services, like us, to help them get through their day. With Canterbury-Bankstown Council’s support, we were able to guarantee that every vulnerable community member in Canterbury-Bankstown who relied on our help could go to bed with a full stomach.

Filling food hampers to the brim with fresh goods, preparing and packing freshly-prepared meals, our hard-working team made sure that each hamper and meal was full of delicious and nutritious food before being distributed to hungry families and individuals in Canterbury-Bankstown.

Our charity understands that each and every hamper and meal helps relieve the financial burden for many struggling community members. With the COVID-19 pandemic giving them further pressures, knowing that they were be able to continue receiving our food relief gave them hope and optimism during a long and uncertain time.

“This second COVID-19 lockdown made it difficult for so many people to stay afloat when they were still trying to recover from the last lockdowns,” Paula Nicolas, St Merkorious Charity founder, said. “With Canterbury-Bankstown Council’s support, we were able to reassure our community that we had the supplies to ensure that they would still have food on the table and that they and their families would not go hungry during last year’s lockdowns.”

Working on the frontlines, Paula said that she had noticed that the long and drawn-out lockdown period had caused greater uncertainty to the community in Canterbury-Bankstown. Due to stricter lockdown rules, people had been struggling to maintain a sense of hope as the days and weeks dragged out.

“People had been slowly losing hope because they couldn’t see when it would end. Knowing that the food that got delivered to them was coming from a community who cares about them, from volunteers and donors to their local Council, it meant a lot to them. Because it meant that someone was there for them during their darkest times.”

As our community now aims to recover from the effects of COVID-19, we are dedicated to supporting all who need a helping hand and a delicious meal. We thank Canterbury-Bankstown Council again for their support, because with their help, we were able to help those who needed us the most in unprecedented and extremely tough times.