Posted Thursday 1 March 2007
Rev Ian Barcroft, rector of St Mary’s, Hamilton, reports on the St Mary’s Family Support Project:
“We all know how the pressure on parents and children has an impact on the wider community. In 1997 Hamilton was the first town in the UK to consider a curfew after dark upon young children on the streets. For St Mary’s Episcopal Church, Hamilton, this was the beginning of work that would allow a link to be made between faith and wider community support.
“Faith can make a difference locally (and globally), and many in the community disliked the curfew idea. Many in the local community were keen that more support should be given to children and parents, especially teachers in the local schools. The churches too had already made a good impression by caring for the local homeless together. It was time for another effort to link Christianity with the needs of local people.”
“A partnership was formed between the local authority, the voluntary sector, and St Mary’s to work together to help children and parents under particular difficulties. The church’s small flat became the focus for intensive family support, an ideal ‘neutral’ venue for a weekend Contact Centre, where the non-resident parent meets his or her own children, and a daily base for a family school liaison project, where children and parents receive intensive support to solve difficult schooling problems.
“Local secondary schools and primary schools find St Mary’s Family Support Project an invaluable resource. An active group of volunteers from St Mary’s helps to keep the work of the centre thriving; faith making a difference.
“In 2006 a considerable funding package from the big Lottery and Lloyds TSB has allowed the work to develop further and increase the support given to parents and children struggling from alcohol and drug misuse. Now the Edinburgh based charity Family Service Units Scotland, employs eight full time workers across Lanarkshire, managed from St Mary’s.
“Two years ago St Mary’s also continued the theme of child and parent support: but this time 6,000 miles away in Sao Paulo! A member of the church introduced the work of a Christian organisation, ABBA, working to prevent children living on the streets. A group from St Mary’s Youth Group, including youngsters from other local churches, with the help of the Scottish Episcopal Church, visited the project in 2005 after raising a substantial amount of money to buy a minibus and a house.
“The impact on the group was life changing. Christianity for these teenagers, and our church community, is seen to have a real impact on the everyday lives of people. St Mary’s folk also realise that the local church can develop its own local community initiative - and what a joy it has been!”
Category: General
