Generous public restore our faith

Our faith in human nature has been restored after a fantastic response to a heartless theft in Sunderland.

Piles of Easter eggs destined for vulnerable children in our community were stolen from Bethany City Church on Saturday.

That must have been a devastating blow everyone involved in the fantastic charity work of the church, but the reaction of the public has gone a long way towards restoring their faith.

Up to 100 eggs were stolen in the raid, but the community quickly rallied round and now church has received approaching 300 Easter egg donations.

Pastor Daniel Alcock tells us today how the team were devastated by the theft.

He said: "It’s heartbreaking. Obviously, we are a church, it’s a religious building and a spiritual home to many in that sense.

"But also, we do so much work for the community there. Be it the soup kitchen, be it the food bank, be it work with asylum seekers or refugees, be it general church stuff.”

Within hours of the news going public, however, the eggs started rolling in.

Pastor Daniel said: "We have probably got three times the number of eggs that were stolen come in over the weekend and we are expecting to be inundated again today.”

He may have been bowled over by the response, but it comes as no surprise to us … we’ve seen this so many times before.

Once again, the Sunderland public have shown their true colours to save the day. Another Eggs-ellent effort. Well done.