Poverty awareness sizzling success

POVERTY AWARENESS: St Vincent De Paul's regional president John D'Souza (centre) with barbecue helpers Armando Cornolo and Alan Balshaw. Picture: CHARLOTTE VARCOE
POVERTY AWARENESS: St Vincent De Paul’s regional president John D’Souza (centre) with barbecue helpers Armando Cornolo and Alan Balshaw. Picture: CHARLOTTE VARCOE

DESPITE Crouch Street roadworks, St Vincent De Paul’s barbeque was a sizzling success last Monday.

Taking place behind the shop instead of on the footpath, regional president John D’Souza said the people who did attend for the free barbecue were extremely grateful.

Overall, Mr D’Souza estimates around 60 people visited.

The barbecue was held to raise awareness of poverty in Mount Gambier.

“We couldn’t put it out the front where we wanted to because of the roadworks, but we are still happy with the response,” Mr D’Souza said.

According to a new report by the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS), co-sponsored by St Vinnies, of the three million people living in poverty in Australia, 731,300 are children under the age of 15.

The report defines poverty as the number of people living below the poverty line of 50pc of the median household income.

This equaled to less than $426.30 a week for a single adult according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s 2014 report when the figures were last available.

For a couple with two children, the poverty line was under $895.22 per week.

Donations to help St Vinnies fight poverty can be made in store or online.