Blankets warming hearts

Warren Valley Community Church members have warmed hearts by setting up a free service which allows those in need to take blankets, pillows and tarpaulins to stay warm and dry this winter.

The members have created a box to place the items in, which sits out the front of their church on Rose Street.

Senior pastor Sue McCredden said items had already been taken from the box since it was set up several weeks ago, which proved there was a need in the community.

“We have started a small group called Love in Action through the church and we have a number of initiatives,” she said.

“We have noticed and we also read in the paper about the number of people living rough in the community and so we have the box which will be outside the church all the time now.”

She said the aim was to make the initiative sustainable by encouraging other people to add to the box when they could.

“We would love people to add a clean blanket in good condition or pillows in pillowcases to the box,” she said.

“We have also added some little tags to some of the items which say things like sleep well or with love from Warren Valley Community Church, just some words of support to let people know someone cares about them and their situation.”

The church has also organised some other ways to help those in need around the community.

“We have some meals and muffins made up and if someone is in a one-off tough situation then they can contact us and we will deliver a home cooked meal to them,” Mrs McCredden said.

“We are also trying to collect some school supplies, which will be delivered to the chaplains at each of the schools and the children can come and get some of the supplies if their families cannot afford to buy them.”