Christ Church meals program in jeopardy

from w
I felt so bad when I read this story in the Geelong Advertiser.  The volunteers who give free meals to a whole bunch of strangers every day, and boxes of food throughout the community are the modern saints.  And then some stupid people trash their hall.  What kind of society do we have in Geelong for such a thing to happen? I do hope that some of our local businesses and tradesmen (as Graeme of East Geelong suggests) will contribute to the cleanup and give building material etc. to repair the damage.

From the Geelong Advertiser:

ORGANISERS say heartbreaking vandalism threatens the future of Geelong's long-running Christ Church charity meals program.

Volunteers cancelled a daily breakfast for only the second time in 25 years on Sunday after arriving to find their hall kitchen had been broken into and trashed.

The incident followed smashing of windows in the hall and an adjoining building days before.

Police are investigating.

The total repair bill of thousands of dollars is a body blow to the program, which relies entirely on charity support to serve more than 30,000 meals a year to Geelong's hungry.

"I'm shattered. It's very sad to see something that you've nurtured just being wrecked," long-time convener Col Hastings said yesterday.

'It has put the program in danger of closing. It's serious business."

Mr Hastings said he had growing fears for the safety of volunteers.

On Wednesday night, vandals ripped booms off nearby gates and speared them through windows of the Christ Church Hall.

On Thursday night, windows were broken on an adjoining building.

"Then on Saturday night they broke into the kitchen area, broke all the windows, ripped the bars off and generally vandalised the place," Mr Hastings said.

"They threw food everywhere, cooked themselves a meal ... generally wilful vandalism.

"Once people who come to breakfast heard they were incensed.

"It's biting the hand that feeds them. Some of them might be on hard times but they're not fools."

Mr Hastings said support from members of Geelong's homeless community had been outstanding.

He will speak to committee members about the future of the program later this week.

"I don't want to make a decision feeling the way I do now," he said.

"I'm a compassionate person but I'm not a silly person and there's got to be some cost analysis. Is it worth it?"

The incidents come as the charity prepares to showcase its daily mission by tabling meals for a community lunch on October 24 to raise money for October's Feed Geelong campaign
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