Salvos offer helping hand in finale to Year of the Farmer
(Photo courtesy Maree Strong)
The aim of the bush mission is to share the true spirit of Christmas with individual farmers and rural communities, through the witness and ministry of the mission team.
- Major Maree Strong
To celebrate the culmination of the National Year of the Farmer, The Salvation Army’s Dubbo-based rural chaplains Majors Trevor and Maree Strong coordinated the Farm Hub Project as part of the launch of the Central West Christmas Mission.
The project, which ran in early December, offered farmers living in remote areas around Quambone, in central NSW, the services of 17 volunteers over two days. It was sponsored by Canberra East Rotary Club.
Rotary members and their partners raised funds and assembled 40 Christmas hampers, before joining Salvation Army volunteers to help with a range of jobs on farms including cleaning, fixing windows and fly screens, repairing a tractor, roofing and building.
“Every farmer was just over the moon and so appreciative of the gifts of labour,” says Maree.
“They were blown away by the whole concept. They loved the fact they got work done, but all said it was just wonderful, the care, and being able to talk to people from other walks of life.”
The farming families were also invited to a Christmas celebration organised by the mission team, held at Quambone Primary School. The night, which attracted 100 people to the tiny school, included a barbecue, carols, nativity play, plus the fun of assembling and decorating a gingerbread house for each family to take home.
At Quambone School. (Photo courtesy Maree Strong)
In mid-December, the second part of the Central West Christmas Mission was held. A largely new team of 21 Salvationists including musicians, singers, a youth leader (plus threeothers working in costumes aschildren’s ministry the Agents of T.R.U.T.H.) travelled to areas including Cobar, Warren, Coonamble, Nyngan, Nymagee and Tottenham, visiting schools, aged-care facilities and participating in and helping to run community carols.
While rural families and communities expressed deep appreciation, Maree says the experience was equally as joyful and moving for the mission team. “This was probably one of the most fulfilling things I have done in my officership,” she says.
Around the same time, rural chaplains Les and Noelene Barrass, together with a team of volunteers, organised the ACT and South NSW divisional bush mission. It focused on “acts of kindness” such as general handyman jobs, repairs and building.
The bush mission team also supportedlocal community Christmas celebrations, providing musicians and labour with a clear, stated purpose: “The Christmas bush mission is about bringing ‘hope’ to the bush through the gospel of our Lord Jesus. It is about being Jesus in their midst. We will be befriending those in the bush and sharing with them in a simple, no fuss way, our faith in the living God.”
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