In August 2015, Anchor Church is collecting groceries for asylum seekers in partnership with Simple Love. Kathy Mcnamara tells us more.
I first came into contact with Simple Love when I was a student at House of Welcome, an agency that provides support for asylum seekers at all levels of need, from providing short-term accommodation, right down to offering groceries on a weekly basis. They purchase groceries using a small allocation of the NGO’s weekly budget and groceries are donated by charities that collect close-to-expired produce. However, the need is far greater than the resources, and this is where Simple Love comes in.
Each month a church is allocated to provide groceries for one of two asylum seeker support agencies—House of Welcome (Western Sydney) or Asylum Seekers Centre (Inner West). Each church is asked to gather around 35 bags of groceries. This may sound like quite a lot, but there can be up to 20–30 families and individuals who rely on these food banks each week. I have seen the shelves return to empty after just one week of Simple Love groceries arriving, and there is no doubt that the need is always growing.
One of the many great things about these organisations is how they return dignity to asylum seekers. When an individual requires food, they do not just receive a bag of random items. Rather, the individual and family are allowed to walk through the food bank as though it were a grocery store, so they can pick and choose what they want to best match their cultural backgrounds and preferences. This may sound insignificant to us, yet the dignity and joy that comes from choosing the exact spice that allows you to make your favourite family meal from home, or to choose the type of rice that best matches your cultural tastes, should never be underestimated.
The best part is that we get to serve our marginalised brothers and sisters in the simplest way possible. It may seem small to us, yet for a family to know that someone cares to meet their most immediate needs, sends the loudest message of acceptance, love and hope.
Find out more about Simple Love and how you can get involved at their Facebook page.