8 October 2020

The community at St Paul’s School, Coburg, are ‘paying it forward’ to support some of Melbourne’s most vulnerable people.

Unused bottles of water and cans of soft drink, generously donated by the school community for this year’s cancelled fete, were put to good use by the St Vincent de Paul Society’s soup vans. Toa from the St Vincent de Paul Society collected the drinks to be used over the coming months.

‘The bottles of water will be used by our Fitzroy and Collingwood soup vans in our “rough sleeper” packs for people who are living on the streets across the inner city’, said Toa. ‘With COVID restrictions in place, many water fountains are out of use, and they will help a lot especially as weather gets warmer.’

The soft drink cans will be used by the Footscray soup van in the upcoming Christmas hampers. Every year, many of the soup vans hold a big lunch for people in the community experiencing homelessness or food insecurity, with lots of food and presents for everyone.