It’s that time of year where the kindhearted elves at Romsey Neighbourhood House package up donated goods and hand them out to those in need.
Carefully wrapped and lovingly curated, the hampers are made up of things given to the house by the community, collected by local businesses and organisations.
House manager Michelle Balthazar was moved when discussing the generosity she’d seen this year, as she’d witnessed a sharp rise in the number of people accessing services provided by the house.
“We’ve been running this for quite a few years now and every year our community rallies together to support those in our community who are in need,” she said.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in the demand for our support services such as our community food share service… as well as our community support service, where we’ve provided over 9000 meals to the community for free, that’s cooked freezer meals.”
She said the presents would be delivered from December 19, to ensure parents could place the gifts under their trees – this year the house had to make more than in the past.
“We’ve had people totally overwhelmed in tears, just so grateful because they’re just finding it tougher and tougher to support their families… we’ve been able to support people who have been fleeing or in situations where they need further support as well,” she said.
Ms Balthazar wanted to take the opportunity to invite residents along to the house’s Community Christmas Lunch, on Wednesday, December 21, at the Romsey Mechanics Hall.
“We just hope that individuals who are in need in our community realise the support they have in the wider community and that they feel a valued part of it,” she said.
Details: www.facebook.com/romseynh.
Elsie Lange
