A heart for Sydney's underprivileged has given one church in Sydney's north the opportunity to raise its community profile as members demonstrate their ‘can-do’ attitude this Christmas.
More than 30 parishioners from All Saints, North Epping assisted in this year's Anglicare Toys "n' Tucker campaign by collecting over 2500 cans from local residents.
Rector of All Saints, the Rev Roger Green says everyone from a 10-year-old girl through to a couple of 70-year-old men joined in the three hour collection process in early December.
"They went out in pairs, covering the streets, pushing wheelbarrows, knocking on doors and asking people to donate. There was a truck following them around so they could dump the cans in there," he says.
Mr Green says supporting Anglicare in this way fulfils part of the churches vision statement "to impact the world with Christ's love'.
"This was a practical way for us to reach out into our community and help those in need," he says.
Mr Green says this is the first time the church has participated in the Toys "n' Tucker campaign.
"The mission committee had talked about the different possibilities for the church as a whole to do something for Anglicare. This was a practical yet relatively easy way for us to contribute," he says.
"It also had a flow on effect of raising awareness of what the church is doing in the community. It shows that church members have a concern not just for themselves but beyond."
All Saints' youth minister, Matt Jacobs, who helped co-ordinate the day says it had a number of obvious benefits.
"It was great seeing some of the youth group kids bonding with older members of the church and I really hope what we do goes some way to helping the work that Anglicare are doing," he says.
Matt believes it is very valuable for the church to practically care about the community around it and that this was a great way to raise the church's profile.
"We met a grandmother of one of the youth group members while door knocking and had some other good conversations. We also had the carols service last week and I think these things have helped more people hear about our church," he says.
