Christmas 4 Kids 2016: A Royal Christmas

Unidus Community Centre was once again filled with joyous Christmas cheer and family fun at our annual Christmas 4 Kids event on Saturday, 3 December 2016. This event has been running annually for over a decade and its purpose remains the same – to generously bless children and families in the south-western suburbs of Brisbane and bring the Christmas cheer.

This year, the Christmas 4 Kids event was extended to 4 hours, happening from 10am to 2pm. A total of 566 residents of local suburbs, consisting of 235 adults and 331 children, attended the event. Every child who came was given a free Christmas present.

With the theme ‘A Royal Christmas’, children were invited to dress up in their best royalty outfits and the best-dressed children were crowned. The winner and runner-up received movie tickets among other prizes. Over the 4 hours, children had a variety of 23 activities to enjoy including favourites like jumping castle, laser tag, face painting, bop-along buddies, balloon twists, tug of war and fishing game. In between, there were dance performances and dance-alongs by the Groundbreakaz and a few hamper giveaways.

Anglicare joined us at this free community event to mingle with the attendees and provide information about their services. Queensland Police Services were also present with a marked police vehicle, in which both children and adults had great fun exploring.

Our guests of honour at this year’s Christmas 4 Kids included the Premier of Queensland, Annastacia Palaszczuk, the Federal Member of Oxley, Milton Dick MP and the Councillor of Calamvale Ward, Cr Angela Owen.

We thank the 188 volunteers who came as early as 6am on the day to assist in various areas such as logistics, food and beverage and kids activities. We also thank the members of the church for donating a whooping total of 2123 portions of cupcakes, muffins, cookies, sandwiches and assorted treats! We are also grateful to Cornerstone Church and the Ipswich Hospital Foundation for lending us over 10 marquees to provide shade on the day.

Christmas Hampers 2016

Christmas is a joyous occasion for many; but for some, it can be the hardest time of the year. In the spirit of giving and being a blessing, we ran our annual Christmas hampers program with the goal of generously blessing families who are doing it tough financially with a hamper around the Christmas period. The hampers were lovingly packed by our volunteers and consist of food, home necessities and some Christmas treats and presents.

This year we collected and donated a total of 39 hampers! The recipients of the hampers were referred to us by their social workers from Disability Services, Inala Youth Service and Vietnamese Community Association. A few recipients of the hampers came into contact with us through self-referral. We received positive feedback from the families and social workers that the hampers have been very much appreciated, especially around the Christmas season.

Winter Warmers: May 2016 Campaign

This year, our Winter Warmers campaign focused on the collection of warm clothing and blankets. These collections were given to the young people at Inala Youth Service Supported Accommodation Assistance Program. In total, we collected:

3 beanies, 1 socks

6 boys tops, 11 girls tops

2 sleeping bags & 1 yoga mat

22 track pants

11 towels

25 blankets

54 jackets

Our heartiest thank you to everyone who kindly donated the items!

 

Mental Health Unwrapped

Mental Health Unwrapped was a success in achieving what we had set out to do – facilitate open conversations around mental health, create awareness and bust myths around mental illness! We ventured from topics like understanding mental illness and mental health, to brainstorming how groups of people and communities can better assimilate people with mental health challenges. We also covered a much needed topic of how we can assist people to find hope in dark times and promote recovery through our companionship.

We thank Rob & Jenny Nicholls, from Luke 14, CBM who flew into Brisbane to share their stories and facilitate this workshop!

Super Hero Club

School holidays have begun! This Easter break, Hope Church collaborated with Scripture Union through its school chaplains to host its inaugural Easter Holiday Camp. Happening from 30 March to 1 April at Unidus Community Centre, we saw 19 children attending the camp and being treated to an array of fun activities and meaningful content.

The theme was ‘Super Hero’. Building on the theme of superheroes, we were unpacking the attributes of a superhero and who can be a superhero, and how Jesus is our greatest superhero of all! The three days were filled with hours of endless fun and games for the children! Making full use of the space available at the community center, children were treated to activities like slip n slide, egg and spoon, four corners, poison ball and many other energizer games. On the final day, one of the activities was building your own superhero accessories using recycled materials – the children (and chappies!) let their imagination run wild with this! We wrapped up the camp with a final performance with the presence of parents and guardians, and action-packed songs like Jesus is My Superhero.

We thank the 11 chaplains and 7 Hope Church volunteers, who tirelessly loved, supported, played, challenged and cared for every child who came!