Free Christmas roast, lunch on offer as church and charity lend a hand

Volunteers at Kooringal's Together church came together on Thursday afternoon to hand out Christmas roasts to members of the community.

Senior pastor Brendan McMartin said they gave away 120 roasts for people to cook up on Christmas Day and he was surprised at the level of demand.

Mr McMartin said people were "very grateful" to receive the free meals and said the local church "wants to make a difference."

"We did what we could," he said.

Mr McMartin said the church also gave away red frogs due to its partnership with the support program of the same name.

Red Frogs aims to provide a positive peer presence for young people in an effort to help them avoid excessive consumption of alcohol and other substances which can lead to dangerous and life-altering behaviours.

Mr McMartin said the giveaway was part of the church's Christmas appeal A Truckload of Love.

He said while this appeal has been running for some time, this is the first year the church has handed out free roasts as part of that.

The appeal also saw the church provide financial assistance to Wagga's Carevan and Your Dream, which runs school wellbeing programs.

"We were able to supply hampers to families in the local community they identified who needed them," Mr McMartin said.

The church also brightened up the festive season for many residents at the Mary Potter Nursing Home.

"A lot of people there don't have any living relatives, so we were able to... give 52 gifts to those residents and also pay for their Christmas party," he said.

For those without a gathering to join for Christmas lunch, the sisters at Missionaries of Charities Wagga are inviting members of the community along.

The lunch will be held from 11.30am - 2pm at 7 Johnston Street and is open to anyone in the community who will be celebrating Christmas alone this year and those who don't have family to go to.