Harvest Christian Centre meet needs of Werris Creek with new food bank

Harvest Christian Centre opened Harvest Food Bank this month, sourcing products from Foodbank in Glendenning in Sydney, which collect foodstuffs from the stores such as Coles and Woolworths.

Harvest’s ministers Phyl and Wayne Nichols said they had been looking into opening a food bank after seeing other churches open them in their towns.

“We decided to open a food bank in Werris Creek because we have had a long association with the people of Werris Creek through scripture in the local primary school,” Mrs Nichols said.

“We ran youth group for many years there as well as knowing that many of our congregation come from Werris Creek, so they really understood the needs of the community because they were locals.

“Over the years we have helped many people from ‘The Creek” on a small scale and saw this as an opportunity to be able to contribute on a bigger scale.”

Mrs Nichols said the food bank is currently providing pantry items and fruit and vegetables and will soon offer fridge and freezer items.

“We don’t plan at this stage to be open any extra days,” she said.

“We are aware that there are other stores that sell food in Werris Creek who make a living by what they sell in their shops so we don’t intend to be a competitor to them but want to be a blessing to the community, giving them a help up for those who are struggling in today’s financial environment.”

Mrs Nichols said there was a roster of volunteers for the food bank with others welcome to hop on board.

“We would like to thank the owners of the newsagency for allowing us to use their premises for this worthy cause,” she said.

Harvest Food Bank is the second new food bank in the Tamworth region to open in the past four months. Liberty Church opened Liberty Foodcare in May. The food bank is run by Liberty volunteers and offers items from Foodbank Australia and OzHarvest.