Would like to thank St Patrick’s Parish and School for their wonderfully generous support of the Hardest Hit Christmas Appeal to assist local families and groups hardest hit by drought and bushfires in NSW. Your response was truely magnificent. This year you donated festive hamper food and beautiful gifts to make Christmas special for 27 local families and individuals who would otherwise have done it tough during this holiday season. The Parish also provided 40 adolescent refugees with a $30 (or more) gift voucher to brighten their Christmas Day.

But most important of all was your wonderful generosity in financially supporting the SVDP Christmas Appeal, bucket collection, and the Carols on the Green. Over $12,000 was raised by the St Patricks’ Parish and the School – a phenomenal result from a wonderfully generous group of people! This, together with an additional $2050 from the 2019 Mayor’s Christmas Appeal will assist locals and drought-impacted families in Forbes-Wilcannia, St Patrick’s Brewarrina and Gunnedah. This money is critically important since it will be spent locally, to support not only the farmers, but also the small businesses which are the life-blood of these small communities.

On behalf of all the very grateful recipients, thank you to Kirsty, Mandy and Ashleigh for all the organisation and assistance provided by the School, to Fr Tom who provided wonderful support and generously donated the loose change in the collections from the Appeal weekend, and thank you especially to everyone in the Parish for being so wonderfully generous in making Christmas very special for all those in need.