YES! Santa is checking his suit, Christmas presents are being wrapped and support services, businesses and individual volunteers are getting ready to join us in under two weeks to celebrate Christmas with our homeless and others in need. Christmas time has started! We have been working on this event for a while now, and although it’s nowhere near finished, getting our flyer out there is always a milestone and a confirmation that things are really coming together!  We are celebrating this milestone with you by sharing the online version of our flyer.  

As you can see, our BBQ is a real community event. Organizing BBQs like ours is a real privilege, because we get to meet and work with such beautiful, kind, generous people from all walks of life in the community. For those that think this world is bad, you are partially right. The other part of the truth is that the world is beautiful. If you don’t believe it, I would like to invite you to come to our BBQs to see for yourself. The compassion and the desire to help others is very much alive in our community. Often people just need to be steered in the right direction and find out what they can do to help. We never do a call-out in vain. People always answer the call. It is very moving and we never ever take it for granted. With every BBQ, but with this Christmas one in particular, we are blown away by so much goodwill and generosity.

No matter how difficult times have been of late, people have continued to come through for others who are doing it tough. They help on BBQ day, they donate, they cook, wash up, do pick-ups and drop-offs of donations, load trailers, buy non perishable foods for our events, manage the donations on our tables, drive the shuttle van that picks guests up and drops them off, make live music, talk with our guests, help them find their way at the BBQ, serve food and drinks, pick up rubbish. The list goes on. It really does take a village, as they say. A village of people like you and me doing amazing things.

And there are always the anecdotes. I’ll never forget the story of the 4-year-old girl who was very upset hearing that some children don’t have toys. She went through her own big collection and gave many beautiful toys away for the children who had none. Or the mother of one of our volunteers, in her 90s, who had her own little army of friends and neighbours who brought her non-perishable foods to donate to our BBQs. The tiny boy who participated in the community art workshop who beamed and said “This is the happiest day of my life”. The gentleman who couldn’t find shoes in his size, only to be given shoes by a lady guest of ours. She literally took them from her feet and gave them to him because he needed them more. He needed them so much he didn’t care they were ladies’ shoes. And she walked away on bare feet, no issue. The homeless lady who insisted on giving me two 5 dollar notes for Signal Flare – I banked the money that evening. The older guy who had a haircut and was so proud of how he looked, saying “Now I feel like my old Self again”.

The feeling of seeing and hearing those beautiful little moments that are really quite big and meaningful is something that money just can’t buy. None of us get paid for what we do but the satisfaction of seeing people leave happier than they came, having a good time, relaxing in our social area, dancing to the music, leaving with toiletries, clothes and other basics they so badly need but can’t afford, seeing them have a real human-to-human conversation with our Patron, all these things make all the hard work worthwhile. We know these little things make a tough life just that little bit gentler for people who ended up out in the cold for whatever reason. We do these BBQs four times a year, and we are at the beginning of offering a program that people can attend to begin positive, longer-term change when they are ready. We are excited.

Christmas is coming 🎅

Berni Palings

Signal Flare