Spreading the Christmas spirit

By Emily Donohoe

Dec 26, 2024

Echuca Moama Community Projects volunteers Georgia Norman and Maya Kadri, co-ordinator Julie Langdon and volunteers Ruth Membrey, Laura Kadri and Elissa Plumridge put together the hampers of donated goods ahead of the community Christmas lunch. Photos: Emily Donohoe. Photo by Emily Donohoe

Echuca Moama Community Projects volunteers have made some locals’ Christmas periods a bit brighter, putting together hampers filled with donated goods.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

With Echuca Moama Community Projects co-ordinator Julie Langdon at the helm, the hampers contain items donated by community members and left under The Riv’s Christmas tree, along with goods that have been contributed by local businesses.

The Echuca Moama Community Projects’ annual Christmas lunch welcomed 125 people at Echuca Moama Uniting Church to enjoy the day together where they may otherwise have been alone or gone without.

Each placemat was lovingly decorated by a local student. Photo by Emily Donohoe

All of these guests also left with a hamper, containing pasta, tinned fruit, biscuits, pasta sauce, preserves and a Christmas treat.

Placemats made with drawings by local school children made an appearance at the lunch and in the hampers too, each featuring a unique design and heartfelt message.

Laura Kadri, Georgia Norman, Maya Kadri, Julie Langdon, Ruth Membrey and Elissa Plumridge with the hampers. Photo by Emily Donohoe

Mrs Langdon introduced the hampers as a way to bring the Christmas spirit home after the community lunch.

“I was mindful that the lunch guests could have a really exciting, hopeful day, be surrounded by heaps of people for four hours, then go home to a unit on their own, and that would hit them in the face,” she said in November.

“So, we decided to do the Christmas hampers so they can unpack their hamper when they go home.”