Ropes Crossing Church and Anglicare formed a partnership two years ago. Their aim is to help in the Ropes Crossing and surrounding community by providing savings on essential groceries via a mobile grocery van (Mobile Pantry). It has been a real benefit to those who have visited.

The Mobile Pantry arrives every fortnight on a Tuesday afternoon between 1:30pm and 2:30pm in the Ropes Crossing Hub. The first Tuesday is February 5th. It is not just for ‘poor people’. If you need help; then they can help you. Please come and check it out.

When you arrive, you are given a number (the order you will be served). If it is your first visit, you register and get a card to use there or at other Mobile Pantries around Sydney and shopping bag(s). You are invited to help yourself to free afternoon tea while you wait for your turn. When your number is called, a contribution of $10 is made to fill a large shopping bag (or $20 for two bags). You go around the van selecting one or two of each type of product until your bag is full.

Typically, groceries on offer include cereal, long life milk, pasta, rice, biscuits, snacks and packet mixes. Usually a bag is worth $50 to $60, which is a great saving. Sometimes there are also free fruit and vegetables.

At the end of the year, those who are registered are invited to a Christmas Party. It is a great afternoon tea and the first forty families are given a free Christmas hamper to help them celebrate.

Come and find them in the Ropes Crossing Hub. Enter from the car park off Guild Place.

Alternately, you can contact them on 02 8602 0899, 0412 282336 or at www.facebook.com/RopesCrossingChurch.

If your need is desperate; the same offer is available six days a week at the Anglicare Shop, 120 Queen Street. St Marys. They hope to meet you soon.