Make a Father’s Day.

“Last year on Mothers Day, we were made aware of 250 children in the long-stay wards of Queensland Children’s Hospital who would be celebrating their Mums from a hospital bed. Prior to the pandemic, these children were often allowed to ‘head home’ for the day to celebrate with family. However, 2020 was different story all together – many of these families would be separated on Mothers’ Day – only one parent and no siblings being allowed to visit the bedside, meaning that there were no special lunches or outings to be had. We decided to put together some small hampers in the hope that we could let these families know that someone was thinking of them, and someone cared. The ‘Make a Mother’s Day’ project began.

Since May last year, we have now had two “Make a Mother’s Day” and two “Make a Father’s Day” opportunities with Queensland Childrens’ Hospital. These have now grown to become permanent fixtures in the Hospital ‘events’ calendar. Most recently, on Father’s Day, one of the staff relayed to us that there was such a buzz amongst the staff about “those Hope hampers” arriving. Delivering the hampers to the beds, and seeing the children delighted to celebrate with their parents is bringing joy to staff and families alike.

Bringing hope and joy to these families is a great privilege for our church. We have ‘Because People Matter’ written on the side of our church buildings, but putting that into a tangible gift to share with people who are experiencing a difficult season of life, is truly the gospel at work.”