One hundred and twenty poor families received parcels of gifts on 10 April 2019 from St. Joseph’s Church in Phsar Toich in the pastoral sector of North of Phnom Penh on the occasion of the Khmer New Year. The event was held in Russey Keo district’s Tuol Sangke  village, Phnom Penh, in the  presence of Fr. Chatsirey Roeung together with  members of the Committee for Charity and some other Catholics.

Commencing the ceremony, Fr. Chatsirey , the parish priest of Phsar Toich gave the 120 families a very warm welcome, saying: “On the occasion of Easter and  Khmer New Year,  our  parish has prepared  little parcels of gifts for you with  the aim of sharing love and contributing to alleviate some of your  difficulties.”

The priest further said: “Today’s distribution of the parcels of gifts is not very much for families who large. The parcels of gifts are for one week’s supply and then they would run out of the items donated. So what is the aim of today’s function, is that our Church follows Jesus’ teachings which is to share love and love people of all nations just as the phrase written in the Bible: if you do a good little work for anyone, you do it  for me.”

Siphan, the chairperson of St. Joseph’s parish in Phsar Toich, said that the parcels of gifts which has been distributed for each family member  consists of : 25 kg of milled rice, fish sauce, noodles, salt, cooking oil, canned fish, etc. The items had come from local and international Catholics, along with the contribution of St. Joseph’s parish itself.

She further said:  “The distribution of the parcels of gifts in our Church is done twice a year.  The families who had attended the programme either obtained the gifts or earned it by playing traditional Khmer games or even general knowledge quizzes.”