In Melbourne, ADRA Shares Fun and Provides Support to Families from Gaza

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in Victoria, Australia, hosted 86 families of recent arrivals from Gaza at a Family Fun Day on July 14. According to Rebecca Auriant, director of ADRA in Victoria, the aim of the day was to “share love through food, games, music, and social interaction.”

Auriant tells the story of the connection with the community from Gaza through Cathy Bassal, a Muslim woman who, in the past, had volunteered at the ADRA Carrum Downs Samoan Center. “Sadly, she passed away in 2022, but her whole family has been volunteering with ADRA since,” Auriant said. “It was her daughters who introduced us to the families from Gaza, so we could provide support to them.”

ADRA volunteers and members of local Seventh-day Adventist churches have been supporting the families with food, furniture, clothing, and bedding. “The Family Fun Day was a highlight to spend time with these families,” Auriant said.

Hosted at the Narre Warren campus of Heritage College — an Adventist school in south-eastern Melbourne — buses collected families from the southeastern, western, and northern suburbs of Melbourne. The Fun Day featured lunch provided by members of the Samoan Adventist community, live music, referrals to legal services, and art and games for the children, as well as household goods and food that the families could take home with them.

One of the local leaders of the Arabic community expressed her appreciation for “an enormously successful day.” He added, “Your humanity and generosity of spirit in giving up your Sunday to make the lives of Palestinians that little bit brighter was a truly Christian thing to do.”

According to Moe Stiles, who worked with members of the Crosswalk Melbourne church where she is a pastor to organize and volunteer at the Fun Day, the opportunity to spend time with the families from Gaza was mutually beneficial. “To be able to humanize issues that are often so far away is powerful!” Stiles said. “To engage in conversation, to hear stories of their journey, to sit and share a meal is a privilege. For Australians — whether by birth or migration — to show up like this is another way to say, ‘You are welcome here.’ ” 

Auriant said ADRA Victoria plans to provide ongoing support and advocacy for the community from Gaza in Melbourne.

ADRA Victoria, which is part of ADRA Australia, lists several initiatives to support the community across the state, including The Women and Families project, ADRA Community Care, and ADRA Community Café. The Women and Families project provides support to women and men who are experiencing hardship through a partnership with Women’s Housing Victoria Ltd. ADRA’s support consists of 13 care packs every month to 13 properties for women escaping family violence, along with social inclusion activities such as community gardening, healthy cooking on a budget, mentoring, homework, and kids clubs at the other 200 community housing properties across Victoria.The original version of this story was posted byAdventist Record.