It’s been a while but we have the next BBQ for the
Homeless coming up, folks! We are all up, running and inspired, and it’s going
to be great. Here are the details:
WHAT: CHRISTMAS
BBQ FOR THE HOMELESS AND OTHERS IN NEED
WHERE: MUSGRAVE
PARK, SOUTH BRISBANE
WHEN: SUNDAY
2 DECEMBER
TIME: 10:00AM
– 2:00PM
Free BBQ plus free clothes, shoes, bags, toiletries etc
to collect for homeless people and others in need: when they can take it with them, it’s
theirs. Plus there will be a Christmas surprise for everyone.
Being pretty new to the whole thing but learning fast, I have to say the buzz you
get from handing out flyers in the days leading up to the event followed by the
BBQ itself is like no other. When someone’s reason to hug you is the fact that
you said one simple word, “hello”, you can see the need: the need of
disadvantaged people to be part of the community. You can also see that it's not happening enough. When this happens to you, you cannot NOT know, and you change. Actually, it is quite sad that a simple and basic
“hello” can make people so overwhelmingly happy because it should be quite normal to be said hello to.
This happened to me with the second person I handed a
flyer to. He was an elderly, indigenous man sitting on a little wall in
Fortitude Valley. I walked up to him, smiled and said hello. It was amazing how
his face changed when it lit up. He looked so happy, stood up and hugged me
like I was a long lost friend. A friendly “hello” was all it took. He had a lot of hair and a long beard which got all in my face, but it didn't matter. When I gave
him the flyer and told him what it was all about, he invited me to sit next to
him on the wall, he took his little Bible out of his pocket, folded the flyer
down the middle very carefully, put it in there, and started to explain his
Bible to me. It was one for indigenous people, with an indigenous cover. As we
were talking three other indigenous men came to stand a couple of metres away,
just watching us, and probably making sure that their mate was OK. I told them
about the BBQ and handed them flyers as well.
It is this kind of thing that makes you realize how
important these BBQs are, not just for the food and clothes, but also and
especially because of the interaction, because people feel they are
acknowledged as people. One lady at Grant’s BBQ told me I had made her feel so
welcome, as I had welcomed her with a very real smile as she arrived that
morning, and she wasn’t used to getting many of those. Making people feel
worthy and making them feel the human being they are really is a very simple thing
to do, and so worthwhile. Anyone can do it.
These are some of the reasons why we believe in the BBQs.
There is a lot of work to be done for the upcoming Christmas BBQ. We are so
grateful to have Dalton Hospitality on board to help out with food, equipment,
people and insurance; our appreciation of Dalton’s generosity is beyond words.
The dedicated people of Knitting for Brisbane’s Needy will also generously lend their support as always, and we are so honoured to have them; thank you, guys! There will be
homelessness services available to assist people in various matters.
You can help by giving clothes, shoes, toiletries, bags, etc. Also, to let homeless people and others in need know we have this event coming up, we need to meet them where they are: on the streets, in the boarding houses, hostels and lodges. We will need volunteers to go and to hand out flyers (we will be doing this ourselves as well) and
to help out on the day sorting clothes, shoes and other things, and to assist
people with various things. Let us know if you want to help make this Christmas
BBQ special for a lot of people – and we do expect a lot of people. The community coming together for the community...
Not a very long post this time, but I think it has the info. We are looking forward to the BBQ and we enjoy the
preparations and seeing the event come together more and more. Gotta fly, have a great
day and be safe, everyone!
Written by Bernie the Polite Girl
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