This year, 150 Sydney Anglican parishes have taken part in Anglicare's Toys "n' Tucker appeal, touring their neighbourhoods to gather food and children's gifts for the 10,000-plus Christmas hampers Anglicare will distribute this year. However while the mountains of cans and toys will undoubtedly benefit families in need, several Sydney Anglican parishes are finding Toys "n' Tucker to be a golden opportunity for getting to know their neighbours.
0f the 150 Sydney Anglican parishes who participated in Toys "n' Tucker this year, All Saints Anglican Church, Waitara is one of 30 to use the annual Anglicare initiative overtly as part of their Connect09 strategy.
Rector, the Rev Bruce Stanley explains how Toys "n' Tucker gave the small 150-member parish a "triple connect' opportunity.
"This year we tripled up events and made the best use of our limited resources by combining doorknocking, Toys ‘n’ Tucker and Christmas advertising " we got three for one!" he says.
"It was strategic because everyone is so busy leading up to Christmas and we need to make the best use of our time as a small growing church."
In an area which Mr Stanley says has grown from around 4500 people in 2001 to around 9300 in the past seven years, "opening up new lines of communication" has been especially important.
"Because we were asking our neighbours to help with Toys ‘n’ Tucker, the doorknocking was well received by people," he says.
"Next time we doorknock, our neighbours already have a positive view of us as a church and will hopefully be more inclined to hear what we have to say about gospel matters… especially after the Toys ‘n’ Tucker story was picked up in local papers."
Already, Mr Stanley says doorknocking around the parish has yielded valuable insight into how All Saints' is perceived.
"We're not known for our building. We're known for our people. When I doorknocked, people told me they knew ‘people’ who went to our church," he says.
"They know the people in our congregations from connecting with them in the community, and in the end, that's why they'll eventually come along."
Collecting in another context
Assistant minister at Rouse Hill Anglican Church and pastor of Stanhope Anglican Church plant, the Rev Steve Reimer, says Toys "n' Tucker opened new doors for partnering with local shops and schools.
After a leaflet drop in schools and households advertising the appeal, church members collected food and toys in the local shopping centre and consequently raised the church's profile in the community.
"When manning the collection boxes we spoke to a lot of community members, who now know about our church. Setting up in the local shop for two weeks provided great awareness for a church which has no home, instead meeting in a leisure centre on Sundays," he says.
"We had a lot of positive feedback from the local shoppers " one lady asked me why we couldn't be there all the time, all year round, so she could support our cause."
Christ Church Inner West (CCIW), a multi-site Anglican Church incorporating Ashfield, Five Dock and Haberfield parishes asked members of the general public to join the team on the weekend of December 6 to doorknock with them as part of their strategy to connect with their community in the lead-up to Connect09.
Only one volunteer responded to the invitation, but Senior Minister, the Rev Andrew Katay, says many volunteered to donate and he will try the idea again next year.
“This is the first year that we have called on volunteers outside of the church congregation to help us with the Anglicare Toys ‘n’ Tucker appeal " We are net fishing, getting non-believers, with a desire to help those in need, to partner with Christians and hopefully in turn begin to desire a relationship with Christ,” he says.
“I think this whole approach, which is serving the community and inviting them to serve alongside us will hopefully pique their interest, and is generally a good approach.”
Every door knocked on during that weekend was offered a DVD containing a gospel presentation, an introduction about CCIW, and some amazing personal testimonies from members of the church.
Mr Katay has high hopes for the effects of Toys "n' Tucker, especially in making CCIW a household name in the inner west, now and in the future.
“Through our non-believer volunteers and those whose doors we knock on, I am certain that we will start to demystify our church, people will be impressed by what we are doing and will be intrigued to build a connection and possibly even attend our Christmas service " It will really open doors for salvation”.
Meanwhile, Rosemeadow and Appin Anglican Church are preparing to use Toys "n' Tucker to connect with their community from the other side: distributing.
From this Saturday, December 20 through to Tuesday next week, members of the congregation will doorknock between 800 and 1000 homes in their local Housing Commission area to deliver food hampers received from Anglicare.
"We have a strong parish, a strong church who know each other, but are yet to fully reach to the community, and this hamper delivery project is a great way to start,” says assistant minister Dean Reilly.
Sydneyanglicans.net will feature a follow-up story on Rosemeadow and Appin's distribution next week.
Silver linings when Toys ‘n’ Tucker got tough
Evening news reports last Thursday night proclaimed the disappointing news that 13 hampers had been stolen after a break-in at Glenquarie Anglican Church on Tuesday night, which senior assistant minister, the Rev Stephen Swanepoel said would affect 13 families, or 40 children.
"We were facing either opening all the hampers and reorganising them to make sure every one gets something, or course that would mean each family would get less than we had originally hoped. We also approached Anglicare about the possibility of replacing the stolen hampers,” he recalls.
On Friday morning, Premier Nathan Rees visited the church with a cheque for $10,000 and helped Anglicare’s CEO, Peter Kell unload replacement hampers.
"Anglicare have already generously replaced the stolen hampers so we will write a letter to the Premier asking if we can put the money toward our continuing community care and development work," senior assistant minister, the Rev Stephen Swanepoel says.
The church has also had offers of help from local businesses and people from the community, some of whom dropped off hampers and toys to help make up the shortfall.
Glenquarie’s Toys ‘n’ Tucker appeal is linked with Break the Cycle, an Anglicare program which provides emergency relief to about 600 clients a year in the parish, through vouchers for groceries and electricity.
Deborah Roake, Break the Cycle’s co-ordinator, says since there have been many calls of support and donations from the local community since the theft.
"We even had one of our clients saying that she'd be happy to give up her hamper for the other families and that she was about to start doorknocking her neighbours for support."
Mr Swanepoel says a week started with sadness after the robbery has ended with encouragement by the local community’s interest and generosity of spirit.
"The heart of the Christmas message is one of immense generosity because God gave His only Son as a gift to the world. And this confirms the true spirit of Christmas is still alive and well," he says.
However in the aftermath, Mr Kell has drawn attention to the growing need for assistance in the current economic climate.
"Australia is beginning to feel the effects of the global financial crisis. We are beginning to see a greater demand on our emergency relief services as the effect of the crisis start to hit, and also a drop in the number of donations to our Christmas Appeal.”
Connections create 10,000-plus hampers
Sydney Anglicare is also reflecting on the success of this year's campaign, which has yielded 2,500 hampers of food, and 8,000 individual gift hampers for children.
“This year was an overwhelming success. There were greater numbers of toys and food which flowed from the enthusiasm shown by parishes to use events like Toys "n' Tucker to connect with their community,” says Sydney Anglicare's public affairs manager, James Wackett.
In partnership with 150 churches, 38 businesses, 114 schools, 18 politicians and 16 youth groups, Anglicare has spent the last month collecting and packing toys and Christmas food for the appeal.
"It’s great to have so many organisations keen to support Anglicare's work through Toys ‘n’ Tucker. We know from talking to our contacts at parishes, schools, youth groups and businesses that people have a real heart to give at Christmas and this is reflected in the quality and quantity of food and gifts we’ve received this year," says Anglicare's marketing services manager, Chris Mahoney.
Some of the big name businesses to come on board have included Toyota and Electrolux.
Anglicare's Christmas Hamper Volunteer Coordinator, Mrs Felicia Fitzgerald, says the commitment and kindness of all the Toys "n' Tucker volunteers who pack the food and toys into hampers really helps show that people do care for those less fortunate than themselves.
Christmas hamper packing volunteer and member of Dural Anglican Church, Mrs Bev Marsden, says being involved in Anglicare's Toys "n' Tucker appeal makes her feel like she is making a difference in the lives of those who need support.
"To help people in need is truly rewarding," she says.
"I have been hamper packing for some years now and knowing that I am helping those who need help is something that I think everyone should experience. It is a real blessing," she says.
This Christmas Anglicare Sydney will deliver their 10,000-plus Christmas hampers in the Sydney, Illawarra, Shoalhaven, South Coast and upper Blue Mountains areas.
While hamper packing has now ceased, Mr Wackett says financial support is still needed to fund Anglicare's Emergency Relief program.
"Anglicare is still collecting funds to support emergency relief for people over the Christmas and New Year period," he says.
"Probably due to the recent financial crisis we only received 70 per cent of the donations this November compared to what we received last November.
"Therefore we need to raise more funds over December to meet this shortfall as we are getting more coming in needing assistance but have less resources to meet these needs."
For those interested in making a donation to Anglicare's Christmas Appeal and helping those families in need please call 132622 or visit [url=http://www.anglicare.org.au]http://www.anglicare.org.au[/url]
