Six Auckland Presbyterian youth groups came together during May’s “Youth Week” to carry out some acts of kindness in their community.
Project Co-op was organised by Emily Wotton, who is the youth, child and family ministry coordinator for Auckland Presbytery, and Anne Overton, Presbyterian Support Northern’s community mission liaison.
Emily says young people are keen to express their faith in a practical way, but often aren’t sure how.
For the past three years, four churches in Auckland’s Eastern Bays area have been providing funding for a Presbyterian Support Family Works office in Panmure. Anne says she was keen to give the churches - St Helier’s, Somervell, Kohimarama and Glendowie - greater ownership of the partnership.
So Emily asked the churches if their youth groups would like to help some of the office’s clients, and she extended the invitation to other churches in the area, with St John’s Mt Roskill and Mt Martin’s Papatoetoe accepting.
On the day, more than 50 young people met at the Family Works office for a short devotion before each youth group headed to a site, taking with them afternoon tea and a first aid kit.
Anne had asked Presbyterian Support Northern service managers to nominate clients, and she says it was easy to find people keen to participate.
Two were clients of Coactive, which provides home support for disabled people; two were clients of Family Works, which works with children and families; and two were clients of Enliven, which offers home and community support for older people.
Emily said those being helped seemed to enjoy spending time with the young people, as well as appreciating the results of their work.
For one of the Family Works clients, who has two children with disabilities, the young people dug a new, bigger vegetable garden. They were also able to extricate her lawnmower from where it had been accidentally padlocked under her house, and mow her lawn.
Another home had been lived in by the same person for many years, and he was having trouble caring for his property. The team disinfected the kitchen, washed the windows, put a lot of effort into an overgrown garden and took away a whole skip full of rubbish.
The client “just loved it,” Anne says. “He was almost in tears.”
Anne was able to secure donations of timber (from TimberWorld East Tamaki and soil (from Auckland Landscape Supplies), as well as a discount on seedlings and on a skip.
“I just told them what we were doing and people were so willing to buy in. We were able to fund it on a shoestring thanks to the generosity of people in the community.”
Because Emily had registered the event as part of Youth Week, it was on the official website and was seen by their local Member of Parliament. Peseta Sam Lotu-liga, MP for Maungakiekie, visited several of the sites and encouraged the young people.
After the work was done, the youth groups gathered at Glendowie Presbyterian, with everyone contributing to a shared meal.
Emily is considering repeating the day as a Christmas project, and running it again next year during Youth Week on a wider scale.
Anne says they would like to identify young people with leadership potential and train them to become coordinators for the project, each organising a team. “It’s also about training and raising up young people to become project managers.”
Others in their churches who aren’t able to do physical work can also get involved by baking or cooking food.
Anne says the Co-op Project was a good starting point. “It’s a very real way that the church can easily connect with their community. We could create ongoing connections.”
“We’ve got the resources; we just need to help people to see that it’s not difficult.”
* If you would like to receive Anne’s “Community Connection” newsletter, please email anne.overton@psn.org.nz
By Amanda Wells