From the Chaplain

Welcome back to the new school year to everyone in the SCEGGS community. I look forward to catching up with all of you or meeting you for the first time soon (even if it’s just a friendly wave at the gate in the morning). I am always open for a chat so please feel free to come and say hello. I hope and pray that this year will be one of fulfilment and joy in all that you do.

Harvest Festival

In Week 3 this year, we celebrate Harvest Festival, where each student is asked to bring to school at least one non-perishable food item which will eventually be distributed to those in our city whose lives have been affected by misfortune and underprivilege. At the beginning of 2020, two million Australians relied on food relief and half of those are children. These numbers have increased dramatically since then due to the pandemic and the rising cost of living.

Harvest Festival recognizes all of the good things that we have been given and the opportunity to give to those in need. We continue to pray for those who struggle to put food on the table and provide for their families. It is important for us as a community to consider ways in which we as a community can help the disadvantaged and marginalised.

Each year, the Chapel is decorated beautifully with these items and other produce and our services are dedicated to the themes of generosity and thankfulness. At the end of the week the donations will be taken to the St Vincents Community Centre at Redfern which provides for those within inner Sydney. I appreciate your generosity and thoughtfulness in these difficult times.

“Rough Edges” Cooking with love: A great opportunity that the whole community can be involved in.

SCEGGS has had a great connection to many of the local welfare agencies for a long period of time. One of those services that we are consistently working with is Rough Edges, another community centre for the poor, lonely and marginalised, located under the hall of St John’s Anglican Church, Darlinghurst. On Wednesdays and Fridays, our staff take whatever leftover food we have at the end of the day from our cafeteria to Rough Edges so that they can provide it to those who attend this centre.

Unfortunately on Monday nights, food is difficult to come by for the centre. In the middle of last year we started a program where families and individuals were invited to make fully cooked meals, enough for about 6-10 people. In the month after the program started we were able to get almost 70 volunteers from the school community which was amazing. Each week, 8-10 families or individuals would cook enough food to feed Monday night’s clientele.  It wasn’t a regular weekly commitment as we had enough people to create a roster where most people cooked once a month. With the more people that we have involved, the more we can share the love around. The food gets dropped off to me at the Forbes St gate on a Monday morning and I deliver it to Rough Edges later that day. If you would like to join our current team of generous volunteers or have further questions, please let me know via email. I have a list of menu ideas, preparation requirements and other important information that I can send you. It has been a great thing for us as a school community to be involved in and a great thing for our local community as well.

Garry Lee-Lindsay
School Chaplain