Hillsong Church gives generously

SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis thanked the Hillsong members for their on-going support in 2014.

“We all make a special effort to be generous at this time of year but Hillsong Church members have been generous towards SSI’s clients all year,” Ms Roumeliotis said. “The church has supported SSI’s Community Kitchen on a number of occasions with donations of food and household items for people who struggle financially to meet their basic needs.

“Most of the people seeking asylum, who SSI support, do not have visas to work in Australia and live on about $32 a day. These donations of food will help families share a meal together, as many other Australian families will. And the gifts will surely put some smiles on the faces of about 100 children and teenagers. SSI thanks Hillsong members for their continued generosity.”

Jason Allen, a spokesman for the church, said Hillsong members felt a responsibility to help people seeking asylum in Australia.

“Any time that we see people in need in our own backyard, regardless of how they got here, we have an obligation to help them,” he said.

Mr Allen said it looked as though Hillsong members and their networks of friends had donated significantly more this year than the more than 80,000 items of food and toys that were distributed across 89 different organisations in 2013.

“Having people living below the poverty line in Australia just doesn’t seem right,” he said. “We encourage people at our services to be generous and I’m just blown away by how generous they are.”

If you would like to contribute to SSI’s support services for asylum seekers and refugees, you can: