40 YEARS ON... AND A NEW AGENCY IS BORN

Mr Vince Ross, former President of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress, speaking at the launch of the amalgamated UnitingCare Sunshine and Broadmeadows agency on the 22nd of October 2009.  The President of the Assembly, the Rev. Alistair Macrae, with Mr Ross, launched the new agency.

Both the Sunshine Mission and Broadmeadows "Care" - the former names of the two agencies that have now been united - began in 1969.  Barry Mitchell, a former Board member of Sunshine Mission, spoke briefly of its history, making the point that it's a story of several hundred people, all of whom were committed to making the world a better place.  The Mission commenced during the ministry of the Rev. John Blacker in response to the escalating demand from local residents for help with their struggle make ends meet.  The struggle didn't occur simply because of individual misfortune or poor decisions, but because of major decisions by government to allow the market place to determine which industries would survive and which would go under.  Major factories in the area, such as Sunshine Harvester, Spaldings, Nettlefolds, Steelweld, and the Munitions and Explosives Factory have all closed.  Located in different parts of Sunshine over the years, the Mission has helped thousands of people.  Barry Mitchell ended by quoting the Rev. Dean Eland's description of a church building - It is a shelter, a place of refuge, a place of welcome hospitality.  Here people meet for a sacred purpose, to celebrate their relationship to a covenanting God, to restore brokenness, to give thanks, to enter into binding relationships with one another, to rally for a cause, to confront injustice, to bind up the broken-hearted, to wait upon the Spirit, to seek a purpose in life, to be challenged and invited to discern new directions and priorities.  The Sunshine Mission, through its hundreds of workers, has attempted to do just that.

Mrs Gill Manson, a former book-keeper for Broadmeadows Care, spoke of the history of that organisation.  As with the Sunshine Mission, hundreds of people have been involved in the work of this agency.  Care grew out of a need for emergency relief in what was, and which remains today, one of the poorest areas of Melbourne, and also for quality child care.  It, too, has occupied a number of different locations in the area, but it's home base has always been in Camp Road Broadmeadows, the site of the Broadmeadows Uniting (formerly Methodist) Church.  The Care agency has provided, over the years, a large number of different services to the community, some of which continue in operation today, and others now no longer operate as needs and circumstances have changed.  Today, UnitingCare Broadmeadows has expanded its operations greatly, and employs several hundred people, and manages a number of kindergartens and child care facilities across the north and west of Melbourne.

Both Mr Mitchell and Mrs Manson, on behalf of the agencies, thanked the large number of volunteers who have sustained and supported the two organisations, many of whom have done so for many years.  Without the work of these volunteers and supporters, the work that has been done for thousands of people would not have occurred.