Community
17 December, 2021
Salvation Army delivers Christmas hampers to families in need
Cairns charity Northern Frontier Foundation (NFF) has teamed up with the Salvation Army and local businesses to provide 350 Christmas hampers to families in need this festive season.
As part of a $75,000 three-year funding partnership, the Northern Frontier Foundation will help provide food hampers featuring Christmas staples – including a Christmas ham – to families across the Cairns community. Northern Frontier Foundation CEO Linda Ly said supporting the Salvation Army in this initiative was very important to the foundation.
“This is our first year supporting the Salvation Army; they have been struggling because of COVID, surviving on donations. So we wanted to get more involved and bring some Christmas cheer to families in need,” she said.
“We are happy to be doing this with the Salvation Army for the next three years, and to get local businesses like Total Food Network and Piccones IGA involved makes their job a little easier.
“This new partnership to purchase 350 beautiful food hampers each Christmas over the next three years provides funding certainty for their essential work in the community during the festive season.
The NFF provided the funding for the 350 hampers, and Total Food Network managed the logistics and warehousing; Piccones IGA purchased the goods included in the hampers while The Salvation Army’s volunteers assembled the hampers and managed the distribution.
Salvation Army officer Major Ben Johnson said the Salvation Army endeavours to ensure that no one is turned away, especially at Christmas time.
“We rely heavily on the ongoing generosity of the community each year to meet the need, and we often commit to supplying in faith that those gifts keep coming,” Major Johnson said.
“We are thrilled with this new partnership and the three-year commitment with the Northern Frontier Foundation as we are able to be more strategic and efficient in how we respond.
“Christmas is a special time of year, and we want to make sure that those who are struggling understand that we are standing with them through these challenging times.”
The Salvation Army has begun distributing the hampers on the weekend of December 4 and will continue in the coming weekends in time for Christmas.
