Tag: Christmas

Gifts, goats and God this Christmas

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 12, 2017

“You got me a what?”

Uncle Graham is squinting at your card, breath a little yeasty from the Christmas pudding. Frankly, he’s disappointed. It was socks he wanted. Or a fishing magazine. He also had his eye on a new case for his iphone.

You got him a goat from UnitingWorld’s Everything in Common ethical gift catalogue. Worthy, but clearly not his favourite.

“Well, it’s for a family in Zimbabwe…” you tell him, a little flustered. “They’ll breed the goats and with the money they can get for them at the market, they’ll send their children to school. It’s pretty cool, actually.”

Uncle Graham looks skeptical. He doesn’t actually say it, but you can see what he’s thinking: “So you got me nothing. You got them goats, but you got me nothing.”

Tags Christmas

Stories & Feature Articles

When Christmas is blue

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 10, 2017

Christmas is such a joyous time. The kids are excited, the tree is glowing, and friends and family come together to share gifts and food to celebrate the season.

But as we go through life, it’s inevitable that each of us will suffer grief, loneliness or sadness. Christmas can be a painful reminder of those times.

Christmas can bring back memories that are hard to live with; for some it’s a reminder of the physical distance between loved ones, others may be separated from their children as they spend a happy Christmas with their other parent, or maybe it is a reminder that a friend or family member is no longer with them to celebrate the season.

Tags Christmas

News & Announcements

Bringing people together at Christmas

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 7, 2016

UnitingCare West officially launched the annual Target UnitingCare Christmas Appeal in WA on Friday 18 November, in Perth’s CBD, at 100 St George’s Terrace Perth. Students from Tranby College helped create a festive environment, singing Christmas carols to those present.

One in eight Australians are currently living in poverty. Many of these people turn to UnitingCare to put food on the table, buy gifts for their children and provide temporary accommodation over Christmas. The annual Christmas Appeal helps to support people through their hard times.

This year, Target and UnitingCare are hoping to raise $1.5 million, which will go towards running many of UnitingCare’s community services. Leave an unwrapped gift underneath the Christmas tree at participating Target stores, and you could be helping women and children fleeing domestic violence, people seeking emergency relief or children in foster care.

At the launch, Sue Ash, CEO of UnitingCare West, explained what the Target UnitingCare Christmas Appeal means for UnitingCare West.

Tags A Helping Hand, Christmas, Faith In Action

News & Announcements

Prime Minister launches UnitingCare National Christmas Appeal

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 9, 2015

“There are many Christmas Appeals as sadly there are many Australians in need. UnitingCare in conjunction with Target believe we have the easiest and most cost effective Christmas Appeal, something many Australians can contribute to,” said Lin Hatfield Dodds national director of UnitingCare Australia.

This year Australians are being asked to simply, give a dollar. At the every checkout of every Target store are $1 gift tag baubles. Our goal this year is to raise $1Million to provide simple humanity to Australian families in real need.

Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull launched the Target UnitingCare Christmas Appeal today at Kirribilli House.

“A Christmas meal, a petrol voucher, gifts for the kids. These are what our appeal will provide to thousands of families. In Australia one in every six children live in poverty. Last year our Appeal reached 42,000 families, this year we are aiming to reach even more.”

Tags Christmas

Stories & Feature Articles

Bring down your walls this Christmas

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 27, 2014

‘Joshua fit the battle of Jericho…and the walls came tumbling down!’

This song and the story have been in my head since the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The stories about these walls are different: the Jericho wall was built to protect its inhabitants and to keep intruders out; the Berlin wall was built to stop East German people leaving their country en masse.

The stories about these walls are also similar: they were both brought down without violence, by people power, by persistent trust in a future that could be better than the present, by faith, as the Hebrews author puts it.

Yes, Jericho was invaded after the walls crumbled and its population butchered, but that is not the point. The point is that walls can be brought down – no matter how long, high, big or strong they are. The point is that when they do come down, there is reason for celebration.

Tags Christmas, Theology and Spiritual Reflections

Stories & Feature Articles

A tree of hope

Post author By revivewa
Post date February 4, 2014

Helping to strengthen family bonds under pressure, Mount Hawthorn St Peter Emmaus Church recently helped families with a parent in prison celebrate Christmas. Through Angel Tree, incarcerated parents can ask to send a gift to their child along with a hand written card as a way of celebrating Christmas together.

Tags Christmas, Church and Community

Stories & Feature Articles

More than you imagine: Everything in Common

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 5, 2013

Australians spent $8billion on beauty products, $14.1 billion on alcohol and $9.5 billion on gadgets last financial year. That being the case, it’s sometimes hard to imagine exactly what we have in common with our neighbours in Asia, Africa and the Pacific, many of whom spend up to three or four hours a day gathering water to drink.

Tags Christmas, Everything in Common, UnitingWorld