Share YOUR community service Story
The Cumberland Zone is conducting a project to increase the connections between congregations and increase people’s knowledge of community services.
Aim of the Project
The aim of the project is to celebrate your achievements, build your connections, be inspired, be equipped and increase your knowledge of community services. Community Services are being defined in a broad term as any activity that aims to increase the quality of life. They can be on the formal side of the spectrum such as a UnitingCare Aged Care facility or they can be on the informal side such as a community morning tea with a guest speaker.
If you have a community service story to tell we encourage you to complete this expression of interest.
Story tellers would be asked to:
- Tell your story in 3mins for a DVD or website clip
- Write a summary of your story for the story book
- Tell your story to a story telling day (Friday 27th July)
The stories are to answer the following questions:
- How and who benefits from being involved in your community service project?
- How does the project impact on people’s quality of life?
- How does your project connect with the community?
- What advice would you give to others who want to do a similar project?
Expression of Interest – Return by Friday 30th March 2012
The expressions of interest (EOI) forms are to be submitted to the working party. Due to time constraints in producing a DVD and the time for the Stories Telling Day, the working party will review the EOI and choose a diversity of stories.
Questions / Enquires
If you have any questions please contact
Mr Chris McAlpine Community Development Strategist by phone on (02) 9688 3074 (Presbytery office), Mobile: 0448 640 050 or email
Name(title and full name) / Mrs Emma Ewin
Congregation
/Organisation / West Epping Uniting Church
Position or role in the project (story teller) / Member of leadership team for mainly music
Email address
(postal address if no email) / / Phone number
(landline and mobile) / 98734808
0423148981
Name of the project / mainly music
Description of the project
(please constrain information to boxes provided) / It is a pre-school music program for children and their carers/parents. The program starts with a half-hour music session with singing, playing instruments, dancing, rhyme, rhythm, which gives the parent/grandparent/carer and child the opportunity to engage in a positive way, as well as teaching music, and developing gross motor, fine motor, and other skills in the children. The Gospel is conveyed in song (some songs are about God), the families are prayed for and cared for.
Following the music session there is morning tea provided for the families by the mainly music team, then free-play for the children and time for chat for the adults.
How and who benefits from being involved in your community service project? / The children benefit in many ways developmentally and emotionally via meaningful interaction with parents, and develop strong community connections with other children.
The parents, etc, benefit from this same interaction, and from having a morning of being cared for by a team of loving, joyful, Christians, who are there to support spiritually and practically as needed. They are also forming a wonderful network of families within the community.
The leaders benefit through the unity of the team, the joy of seeing the group grow and develop, and the privilege of sharing Christ with the wider community. This means the church community benefits.
The wider community benefits as it is a community outreach which really meets needs within the community – and it is so positive. Just last week we had several new families, two of whom only heard about it because one of our regulars sang the praises (pun intended!) of mainly music to them while, as strangers at the park, they started chatting while their children were playing.
Return to
Lois Rees
By Friday 30th March 2012
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