Husband-wife team Tony and Yan DeTommaso to take over Tamworth Salvation Army

Majors Tony and Yan DeTommaso are taking over as the new Corps Officers of the Tamworth church.

The husband and wife team met 31 years ago, during training and have spent 28 years travelling from corps to corps ministering. They have two adult children.

Both will do some preaching, Yan DeTommaso said, in line with a non-discrimination policy dating back to church co-founders, William and Catherine Booth.

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"Our mission vision is 'without discrimination'," Tony DeTommaso said.

The couple have replaced Captain Harriet Farquhar as the city's permanent Corps Officers. She left in June.

The DeTommasos left a job in Salvation Army age care in Sydney's Bankstown region to come to Tamworth.

They were at the heart of Sydney's recent outbreak of the Delta strain of COVID-19.

"It was very stressful for our residents as we weren't even allowed to have window visits in the severe lockdown," he said.

"Eventually we got to the point where we were wearing masks plus a shield.

"It's had a huge impact on aged people. We were like their channel to try to provide a meeting on a computer, or a phone call. That was an intense time."

The new Corps Officers hope to be able to return a sense of community to the Tamworth corps after two years of rolling coronavirus lockdowns.

Mr DeTommaso said he wanted to develop a "cafe-style" arrangement for people to drop in for a bit of social connection, for free.

Coming out of the pandemic, a lack of social activity has had a big impact on people's mental health, he said.

"People are coming here anyway so why not say look for one day a week you can come in and have a light lunch and also talk to someone and find out what is around, how do we network, for each person," he said.

"There's possibly other ways of helping them. Some people might just need a little bit of support along that way."

The Salvation Army's traditional Christmas barbeque will go ahead in some form or other, though the exact dates and details haven't yet been locked in.

The army also kicked off its annual Christmas appeal this week.

The Salvos anticipate the needs of Aussies at Christmas will reach a new peak under the pressure of the pandemic. The church hopes to raise $20 million, nationwide.

The Salvation Army distributed over 64,000 hampers and vouchers worth over $1.89 million during the Christmas period last year.

Major DeTomasso urged anyone in need to reach out to the Tamworth Corps by calling 02 6762 3930

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