Lunching in style is now a welcome habit for residents at Rohini Village, a tight-knit community run by Anglican Retirement Villages (ARV) at Turramurra. Each Friday, residents enjoy a glass of wine, a hot two-course lunch and a treat to take home for the tiny price of $10. As they serve up this lunch each week, volunteers from St James', Turramurra are praying residents will also see God at work.

As the trend continues for the elderly to stay in their own homes as long as possible, ARV Rohini Village manager, Katrina Gould, says these weekly Friday lunches are an ideal way of taking the pressure off those who are less mobile.

"[They] get fairly isolated or homebound, so it gives them a chance to go out and communicate with other people in a restaurant setting," she says.
The lunches have been a hit, with residents coming back week after week, and even a short waiting list.

Says regular Marie Harvisson, "It is a nice idea to have one hot meal in the week that I can depend on."

But these lunches are no ordinary affair. The tables are decked out with white linen tablecloths and serviettes and vases of fresh flowers.

For Marie, this is perhaps the most important touch. "There's a certain dignity in this that I appreciate," she says. "It's very intimate and very nice." Conversations over plates of baked lamb and apple crumble are lively as residents talk about their week.

St James' is giving these lunches a practical boost through eight volunteers, who work closely with Anglican Retirement Villages staff to serve and prepare food supplied by ARV Food Services and clean up afterwards.

Katrina says they bring a sense of familiarity because of the existing relationship between St James' and Rohini. "I wanted people who were known to my residents because some of my residents are parishioners there," she says.

Assistant minister at St James' and ARV Rohini Village chaplain, the Rev Robert Jones is optimistic that the increased familiarity will make residents more inclined to accept invitations for future events at St James'.

"These lunches have a gentle evangelistic edge that helps to open doors of opportunity to share the gospel with people," he says.

Volunteer Margot Richardson says:"It's really good fun, it's a wonderful Christian witness, and it's a small thing I can do in my community that will, God willing, encourage people to look at the Christian faith."

A couple of months ago, St James' distributed a questionnaire to all ARV Rohini Village residents, to find out what activities they might be interested in next year. Rector, the Rev Dr Michael Stead says he was surprised to find that residents largely favoured explicitly Christian activities, such as Christianity Explained.

"One of the interesting things for me was that residents weren't as interested in lifeskills courses, such as how to use your computer or cardmaking," he says. "The feeling was that there are lots of those kinds of opportunities in other community-based organisations around here, and it would be counterproductive to duplicate those things".

Dr Stead says part of St James' Connect09 strategy is encouraging Christian residents at Rohini Village "to reach their own community from within", through conversations and practical support, such as opening their homes for Christianity Explained courses."

One of these residents is Alan Browne, one of the driving forces behind the Friday lunches. At 7am every Friday, Alan works with fellow resident Doris Bracht "to transform a bowling alley into an upper-class restaurant". This involves moving and setting tables, putting out placecards, buying drinks and bread rolls, and making sure each resident has their drink of choice waiting for them at their table when they arrive. He is now able to predict what they will want to drink, and whether they will want a refill! "I see it as a contribution I can make to the village," he says.