Mary Macs Place in Woy Woy received over $15,000 in donations on September 17.
The donations consisted of $5740 in cash and $10,000 worth of groceries and toiletries, were presented as part of Deepwater Plaza shopping centre’s recent drive which saw shoppers able to make both cash and item donations throughout August to Mary Macs, a service operated by Catholic Care.
Catholic Cares homeless services coordinator Ms Catherine Pantehis said Mary Macs Place served over 500 meals a week from Monday to Friday to those in community facing homelessness and food insecurity.
Mary Macs is open to anyone needing a helping hand.
Being 100 per cent reliant on donations to continue to provide this vital service, a donation of this size is set to sustain our meals program for at least 12 months, Ms Pantehis said. In the last 12 months, 18 per cent of the Australian population have run out of food and were unable to purchase more.
“Organisations such as Mary Macs are critical to the local community and they rely heavily on the support of individuals and local businesses”, Ms Pantehis said. “The community’s kindness will ensure we can keep providing meals and other important services to those that need it the most on the Peninsula”, she said.
Deepwater Plaza centre manager Ms Marcelle Proper said the community response to the donation drive had been incredible.
SOURCE: Media release, 12 Sep 2019 Brooke Simmons, Pursuit Communications