Conduits -Part 2 - In all the ways you.In all the places you can.

Rural Chaplains act as a link between places and people, people and resources,doing what they can in all the ways they can, in all the places they can.

As they travel around Western NSW the chaplains hear a lot about the needs and hopes of the communities they visit.

End of the school zone at Weilmoringle 

Many of these places are very isolated in that they are far from major centres and services. Often things we now take for granted in most cities and towns do not exist - things like access to teaching about new technologies, hobby groups, opportunities for post school learning and employment, pre-schools, playgroups, secondary schooling and book shops or any shops!

Julie and Phill leave one such meeting in Dubbo.

The chaplains hear about these needs and seek to do something to meet them. This involves discussing the project or service people would like to see happening in their community with members of the community. It can mean sourcing funds through a grant to pay for the need to be met or  linking a church community in the city or a large country town with a smaller community.

Linking people and places can work as a great two way exercise as expertise and knowledge of differing lifestyles,experiences and places flow back and forth.
An example of this is the link between Pymble Uniting Church and the community of Enngonia, who have worked together for several years.Another is the pairing of Weilmoringle and Mosman Boys Prep School in the Book Buddies program. Mosman supplies access to books for the children at the school and in return Weilmoringle teaches them about their local Aboriginal culture and environment. It's a win -win situation.

An example of a grant helping communities to gain services which will enrich the lives of both individuals and the town is the recent one applied for and gained, from UnitingCare. This Innovations grant covers 3 areas of community enrichment - a computer course for Seniors hoping to improve their skills so they can communicate better with friends, family and services outside town, an ESL training for tutors course so non-English speaking Hillston locals can improve their ability to communicate in English in town and a series of Quilting workshops at Merriwagga for the ladies in that small town who love to get together and sew and want to learn new skills.

"Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can.To all the people you can. As long as ever you can." - John Wesley

Sometimes it involves the unglamorous hard yakka of grant writing and phone calls but seeing it all come together and for people to get the services they need is a very satisfying part of the job of Rural Chaplain.