Acts of Generosity

The Revd Julie Baker, Chaplaincy Manager

Have you ever enjoyed being the recipient of an act of generosity? I know I have. It’s a wonderful feeling to receive a gift, a kind word or even a warm smile when we least expect it or feel like we don’t deserve it. Equally, there is such joy in being the generous giver and seeing the reaction of the recipients, knowing that you brightened their day.

For many of our consumers, support from family and friends is sparce and what relationships there are, often involve others with limited resources. Despite this, there is a palpable generosity in many of the relationships I witness in our services with consumers looking out for one another, ensuring that everyone gets a share when donations of food are available and doing favours for one another as they have capacity.

St Bart’s tries to offer a culture of generous hospitality in many ways, from the person-centred, trauma-informed approach to all our services, to the daily interactions between staff and consumers on all our sites, but especially at Lime St where our head office is co-located with residential consumers.

Possibly the most intentional time to be thinking about how we can be generous is in the run up to Christmas, but here at St Bart’s, we have to prepare a little earlier than most if we are to ensure that our consumers in all our services get to experience the joy of receiving a generous gift at Christmas.

This year, as usual, we have launched our Christmas Hamper Appeal and communication has already begun with previous supporters. We are grateful for the relationships we have built over the years with parishes, organisations and individuals who have generously purchased goods and packed individual bags for our consumers as a reminder to them that they are worthy of care and generous grace, just as we have been recipients of the generous grace of God. A Christmas hamper for our consumers is a tangible reminder that they are not forgotten.

We are grateful for those parishes and groups who work with us to partner with particular services such as aged care and families with children, and we give thanks for all those who have already committed to providing hampers for our adult consumers. Last year we distributed over 550 hampers, and our numbers have not reduced since then.

It’s not too late if you want to get involved but there are only a few more weeks before the appeal closes. The graphic gives you an idea of how it all works, ideas of the types of items we can accept, and contact details for the coordinator are listed, we’d love to hear from you and, as ever, appreciate your ongoing prayers for our work and our people.

Published in Messenger November 2024