St Bart’s Update

First off I want to say thanks to everyone who has been involved at St Bart’s over the last 8 months. You may not feel like your casual weekly game or light conversations are helping much, but our collective effort has made a big difference to the shelter and the staff are really thankful.

Secondly, the guys at St Bart’s are having a few cricket games with another shelter (St Pat’s in Freo) and they want to have a few training matches this month. So every Saturday from about 1pm-3pm at a field near city beach they’ll be playing and it’d be great if we could send a few guys along each time. It looks like Rebecca (one of the paid staff) will be going but she’s the only on I think. If you can help out, even just the once, then let me know.

As for this year, I’ve been talking with a few staff at St Bart’s and it seems there is a real need for more activities on the weekend. The two main reasons for this are:

1, There are almost no paid staff who work on the weekends. This also includes external government-funded organisations like Reclink who work only on weekdays.

2, A lot of the guys actually work or are looking for work during the week and get tired or unmotivated by the end of the day. So we’re not seeing a whole mob of guys at our weeknight events.

So the big-picture plan I have for this year, is to increase our involvement on weekends.

My aim is to have 3-4 guys from Unichurch doing Something with St Barts every Saturday. Some things to note are below:

* The guys involved with Wii, Darts, Pool etc, are welcome to just stick with that commitment (which is already huge) or swap it for a weekend activity as they choose.

* The activities will almost all be outside St Bart’s. This is something that is hard to manage on a weeknight but it is great for they guys to get out. Activities on the list so far are: Cricket, Soccer, football, swimming, bushwalking, abseiling and gardening. If you have an idea for an activity, then let me know.

* We need more guys. I figure with 30 of our guys willing to come on weekends, we could each donate one Saturday afternoon every 10 weeks. That sends 3 guys each Saturday which I am told is an ideal number. There is a balance between having enough of our guys to have lots of 1-on-1 conversations and not swamping the event. This is manageable for us and
would make a huge difference to St Bart’s.

* We need to encourage more of our guys to do the training. I will make an announcement from the front but it’s far more effective if you can start a conversation with your mates. Try to encourage guys to do the training even if they are unsure about how much time they want to commit. They can always do the training and then decide what to do. They can’t
get involved later without the training.

* This is a hard job. Giving up your time is no small thing and I am really thankful for what you’ve already given to the shelter. It’s also hard because it can be outside our comfort zone.

Of all the different types of service you can do around Unichurch, I think this can be one of the the toughest and least acknowledged or rewarding. In many cases, you’re not only doing something hard when you could be relaxing, but the guys you are helping might not care about you or what you are doing for them. You’re also doing it by yourself or in little groups of 2-3 Unichurchers, so nobody you see on Sunday night is going to thank you.

But you know that Jesus loves the guys in St Bart’s and He wants you to look after them.

Ashley Horton