Lefevre gets on board
Local
Community volunteers and parishioners on the Lefevre Peninsula are discovering new places and experiences far beyond their homes, thanks to an alliance between the parish and local council.
It began about three years ago, said former school principal Gael Little, shortly after she had been nominated as the new chair of the Lefevre Parish Pastoral Council, which covers the Sacred Heart church in Semaphore, Our Lady of the Visitation in Taperoo and West Lakes Church (ecumenical centre).
“We decided to do a survey of the parishioners and wanted to find out, ‘What do I love about this church?’ and ‘What do I want to see more of?’,” she said.
Ninety per cent of the respondents wanted to keep building a community spirit and build connections locally.
While the response was encouraging, the question of how to help facilitate the community spirit remained.
“What would I want if I didn’t have a car and couldn’t get around?” Gael asked herself.
“Then a parishioner came and told me about the City of Port Adelaide Enfield Council, which has a bus that they let out. So I rang them up.”
She was told the council would want to be shown that Gael’s idea was about volunteering and helping the community and once that was done, the council was quickly on board.
“The parish hires the bus (at a discounted rate) and we charge a $2 donation which pays for the bus driver’s lunch.
“We offer it to volunteering groups firstly. There are 23 seats on each bus and we get a full bus most of the time.
“The reaction has been amazing. If we don’t fill up the bus, we open it up to any parishioners.”
There have been about eight trips to date with a day trip to Victor Harbor up next. Recent highlights have been visits to the Mary MacKillop Museum in Kensington, Brighton and to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens to see the Chihuly Exhibition.
There is a broader benefit beyond seeing new sights.
“This is a way of communicating with people, not just giving them surveys on the way out of church. People who don’t go to church often are the people you want to talk to in many ways,” Gael said.
“We have to start thinking of ourselves as a wider church, as Pope Francis said.”
Jump to next article
