Author: revivewa

Caring Hands craft intergenerational connections

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 19, 2019

More than 80 people gathered at Beldon Uniting Church for an intergenerational Seniors’ Morning Tea in November. Organised by the Caring Hands group of the church, guests were invited from various aged care residential sites, and treated to a range of entertainment.

Children from the Beldon Early Learning Centre, an outreach of Beldon Uniting Church, performed a selection of nursery rhymes, and children from the local Beldon Primary School performed some drumming. The school is located across the road from the church and they share a relationship through the school chaplain. A local ukulele group also performed.

Tags Ageing and Community, Church and Community, feature, Youth

News & Announcements

Aged care sector warns of 2020 emergency risk

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 16, 2019

The national aged care sector, including UnitingCare Australia, warns that, with today’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) flagging no additional direct investment for residential and home care, the risk of aged care emergencies looms large in 2020.

The Government had already announced $537 million in response to the Aged Care Royal Commission, with an additional $87 million announced today mainly covering Government administration costs.

Tags Ageing and Community

Stories & Feature Articles

Does it make a difference?

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 16, 2019

Not so long ago, a woman bailed me up as I made my escape from a church where I’d been preaching.

“I’ve given to places like UnitingWorld all my life,” she said. Her voice shook a little as she spoke; I could see it had been a good and long life.

“But there’s still so much poverty and suffering in the world! Sometimes I really wonder if it makes any difference.”

Understandable.

Tags A Helping Hand, Faith In Action, feature, International

Stories & Feature Articles

Christmas with UnitingCare West

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 13, 2019

While Christmas is a time of joy and celebration, almost one third of West Australians feel the stress of disadvantage and isolation during the festive season.

Many people will seek help from charities for their basic needs such as food, or for assistance paying bills. Many more feel lonely and disconnected from family, friends and their community.

This Christmas, UnitingCare West expect to see more than 2 000 people at their hubs in Perth, Fremantle and Merriwa. For the first time, UnitingCare West’s Tranby Centre in Aberdeen Street will be open every day during the Christmas and New Year period, from 7.00am to 7.00pm.

Tags A Helping Hand, Christmas, feature, Schools

News & Announcements

Business Start-up Awards create career opportunities

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 10, 2019

As they Celebrated International Day of People with a Disability, on Tuesday 3 December, Good Sammy Enterprises (previously Good Samaritan Industries) awarded their inaugural Good Sammy Business Start-up Awards to young people living with a disability inspiring pathways to their working future.

With final exams over and the school year complete, and while thousands of Western Australia’s school leavers are considering their future career opportunities, Good Sammy’s Start-Up Award winners will be making use of their prize money to turn their passions into a business opportunity. These awards are kindly sponsored and supported by Santos.

Tags A Helping Hand, Inclusion

Stories & Feature Articles

SHARE and humanity thrives

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 9, 2019

Rev Roy Surjanegara is the Minister at GKI Perth Uniting Church, an Indonesian speaking congregation in Mosmon Park. This edition, he writes about this year’s Family and Culture Month at their church.

September is the month to celebrate family life and Indonesian culture for GKI Perth Uniting Church. We call it ‘Family and Culture Month’. Each Sunday, one ethnic group is highlighted in the service through the use of the local languages for the Bible readings, songs, and prayers. Musical instruments, clothing, decorations, and traditional food also play an important part in creating the atmosphere of being in Indonesia for a day. This year, we celebrated the Batak culture of Sumatera, the Sunda culture of West Java, the Dayak culture of Borneo, and the Tionghoa culture of Indonesian-Chinese descendants.

Tags Church and Community, feature, Multicultural

Stories & Feature Articles

Moderator’s column – A house and a garment: hope for the planet

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 8, 2019

Save the planet’, ‘care for creation’, ‘love the environment’ are some of the slogans we hear as the voice of concern gets louder for our beautiful, yet plundered and polluted planet.

Behind these concerns for our ecology there is a deeper question; is there a purpose, a plan or indeed a mind behind the solar system? Are we just the result of freak accidents of cosmic collisions or is there more?

Tags Environment

Stories & Feature Articles

No mistakes in Creative Endeavour

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 5, 2019

In the bushy surrounds of Perth’s hills, a Uniting Church congregation is bringing life to the community through art and creativity. Kalamunda Uniting Church’s Creative Endeavour program is reaching people in ways the congregation could not have initially expected.

“It’s all about the journey,” Elizabeth Bishop, founder and leader of Creative Endeavour, tells me. And what a journey it is.

There are many ways to appreciate art; but for those who are using artistic creativity for personal enjoyment, it’s the process – the journey – that often leads us to new places.

Tags Books, Films, Art, Awards and Recipes, Church and Community, feature

Stories & Feature Articles

Community refugee sponsorship: a local solution for a global issue

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 2, 2019

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) forecast that 1.44 million people will be in need of resettlement across the globe in 2020. Meanwhile, last year less than 7% of people in need of global resettlement were settled into new homes.

Australia currently offers the Community Support Program to help resettle refugees into the country. Under this program, individuals or businesses can support refugees to begin their new lives in Australia. This may sound great, but critics point out that the program has some major flaws, and is actually inaccessible to most people.

As global conflict is creating more and more refugees each year, the Uniting Church WA is calling for a new compassionate and generous refugee sponsorship program in Australia; supporting the introduction of the Community Refugee Sponsorship Initiative.

Tags feature, Refugees and Asylum Seekers