Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

St Paul's Anglican Church is a beautiful sandstone church in Burwood. Go there on any given day, at any given hour, and it will be a hive of activity. That is because of the incredible work of Father James Collins and his team of committed volunteers. The main buzz of activity comes from the parish pantry, started in 2012. It's been a constant source of much-needed food and essential items for locals doing it tough. What is extraordinary about the pantry is that it remained open throughout the pandemic to make sure that people were able to get the help that they needed.

There is a determination and steely will to Father James that belies his soft-spoken and gentle demeanour. His form of pastoral care is accepting, embracing and yet unobtrusive. There is no expectation to worship or even to enter the church. Father James and his team of volunteers, led by the wonderful Rosemary King, include Jane and Tara Cordina, Kerin Brown, Eugene Tomzcyk, Margaret Whittaker, Petrina Traill and Mark Taylor. They have defied the odds by providing all this assistance on a shoestring budget. But in the last 2½ years of the pandemic, they've seen an unprecedented spike in demand. Where they previously provided a few hundred meals a week, they are now providing 4,000 meals a week. I thank them for their tireless work helping out the most vulnerable in the community.