Mission Australia set to celebrate Christmas Day around the country

Thousands of Australians in need will enjoy a Christmas lunch and join in the spirit of the season at Mission Australia services and events across the country on Christmas Day.

Chief among them is Mission Australia’s Christmas Lunch in the Park (CLIP) – an event for around 2,000 disadvantaged and lonely individuals and families in Perth, now being held for the 34th consecutive year.

Run with the help of more than 400 volunteers and generous financial and in-kind donations for individuals and businesses, CLIP is one of Australia’s biggest Christmas Day gatherings.

Every guest at CLIP will enjoy a traditional Christmas lunch, entertainment throughout the day and a gift.

Volunteers greet guests as they arrive, host tables and help Santa distribute the donated gifts.

In Brisbane, Mission Australia’s Café One on Wickham will serve lunch to more than 100 homeless and disadvantaged people in the city’s centre this Christmas Day.

Café One on Wickham provides low cost meals and coffee – as well as a range of individual support services – to individuals and families in need. The café provides a sense of belonging and connection to others which is particularly important at Christmas time.

Mission Australia opened Café One to provide Christmas Day lunch for the first time last year and such was the demand it has decided to continue the tradition in 2009.

Every attendee will receive a Christmas lunch and receive a gift kindly donated by the Brisbane Lord Mayor’s Community Benefit Fund and various other organisations.

Christmas is one of the toughest times of the year for the people Mission Australia helps simply for the reason that at its heart it is a celebration of love, family and joy.

For our clients – many of whom have no family or are disconnected from them – it’s a period when that isolation and loneliness is emphasised like no other time.

However, thanks to the generosity of Mission Australia’s donors and corporate partners, our clients – along with many other thousands of Australians doing it tough – will now be able to join in the Christmas spirit.