Anglicaring

At church on Sunday, we had a rep from Anglicare's Wollongong Office come and do the spiel about why we should be supporting them. We often get guest preachers coming along - Bush Church Society, Bible Society, CMS, etc. I usually tune out - I started to this time as the lady was basically reading a 'prepared statement' rather than engaging with the congregation (and she had a really annoying Southern English accent - but that's beside the point) Zephaniah got really interesting, let me tell you. Anyway, I tuned back in, and was amazed to discover how much stuff Anglicare does - especially in the Wollongong region (which stretches from Campbelltown and the Southern Highlands all the way down to Ulladulla)
It's not just the Emergency Relief during natural disaster - such as bushfires and floods; it's not just the food hampers at Christmas - it's so much more.
Anglicare provides relief for people in many different situations - from the elderly infirm to the middle-class family in financial strife. They provide counselling services, adoption services (for disabled kids), prison visits, migrant support services, mental health support. They seek out the helpless, and help them! And it's run by an army of volunteers. Of course the Counsellors are all proper paid employees, but the majority of Anglicare workers are ordinary, everyday, churchgoing christians. And you never hear about them. They are out there running playgroups for single mums, for newly-arrived migrants; they're providing twice-weekly coffee mornings for the mentally-iffy in Wollongong; they're visiting the elderly; they're helping struggling families... In fact, they've effectively become the outsourced Welfare System. The government has abrogated their responsibilities towards the vulnerable in our communities, and left it to the Church.
Well, despite the unsparkliness of the prepared statement, the Anglicare Lady did her job well. Although I annually provide the components of a Christmas Hamper for a Medium to Large family (xmas pudding, xmas cake, tinned ham, tinned custard, tinned potatoes etc) I've decided I don't do enough. I don't have time to volunteer, but I CAN donate money. And that's what I'm going to do.