Community Recognition for the Newtown Blessing Box

Jenny Leong MP spoke to Parliament to acknowledge those that started the Newtown Blessing Box and also thank those that have been donating goods. 

Hansard extract:

"The Newtown Blessing Box is a gender neutral community street pantry located in Newtown. The Blessing Box came about when Maureen Lee noticed the effect that support services who had to close as a result of Covid-19 restrictions had on people who used those services to access food and other goods. Maureen and housemates, Michelle Gomes and Joyce Akinpe opened a streetside community pantry and found an old cupboard in a nearby lane which they installed at the end of their driveway with a few items from their pantry. Newtown Blessing Box is now a well-known community feature, full of non‑perishable goods, sanitary products, toilet paper and local restaurant vouchers. Messages of support are plastered across the doors from people who are donating and people who are taking the goods. The blessing box is used by people who have lost their job or income, migrants and asylum seekers, and people who are sleeping rough. Thank you to the incredible locals who started the Newtown Blessing Box, to those in the community who are donating goods - and to those who have been inspired to start their own blessing boxes in other neighbourhoods, including Marrickville and Tempe."