Shoe Boxes
The parish MU and Ladies Guild Fellowship have been successful in filling Shoe Boxes with Christmas gifts. These boxes distributed to disadvantaged communities throughout the world and received by children who might not otherwise receive a Christmas gift.
Mamies Helping Hands
The
parish supports "Mamie's Helping Hands" — a community service based in
Swaziland.
Swaziland
has the highest rate of HIV in the world and the typical middle
generation (mum and dad) seems to be almost non existent.
Young
children are heading households, and elderly grandmothers often have
twenty-plus young children in their care.
These grandmothers are often
eighty years of age, or more and there are fears of what will happen
once these grandmothers are no longer around to care for the
children.
With
the involvement of the local Anglican church Mamies
supports these children.
The parish has contributed to the work of Mamies over the
past two years. The Mother's Union had a mission day and invited Pat
and Courtney (from the Albany parish, originally from Swaziland) as
guest speakers. A 'Bring and
Buy' was also held at that time and the proceeds were donated.
The parish Op Shop is open on
Friday's, and all the takings on a Friday support Mamies.
So far, almost $2000 has been
raised for Mamies through the efforts of The Mustard Seed — a
fantastic effort. A food stall was also held during the 'Festival
of Voice', and over $400 was raised.
Parish
Rector, Revd Karen Urquart recently travelled to Swaziland with
parish member Glenda.
See
Karen's letter for details of the trip.
