Chapel Matters
A question! Just off the top of your head – what staples have you got in your kitchen cupboards and fridge right now?! This is very apt with the sudden lockdown!
In chapel on Tuesday (before lockdown!), we had Donna and Robyn from Anglican Family Care share with us about the needs in Dunedin for families to have easy nutritious meals that they can make. And this is a fun project for each Whanau group to do, creating a meal in the style of a “Food Bag”!
Robyn is a Family Start whanau worker and comes from a nursing background. She is passionate about good nutrition and educating families how they can eat well on a budget. She asked us what staples we have in our kitchen and then shared with us some stories about families who have very little, and often do not know what to do with items they get from food parcels they receive.
Just so you all know about this project, here is the information I have shared with the whanaungatanga teachers! The idea is that this term each whanau group comes up with a recipe and then puts together a “Food Bag” with all the ingredients needed for it!
AFC will provide a supermarket voucher ($20-25) into each “Food Bag” to cover items like fresh veggies/meat
Otago Packaging will generously provide us with the “bags” (or boxes?)
Once each group has decided on their recipe, someone might like to design the recipe card ... someone else might like to bring an ingredient ... someone else might like to ... ?
The groups might even like to try cooking (and eating) their meal together to test it!!
Remember that families often only have basic equipment and utensils ...
They might also like to include a treat/dessert!
When the group has their “Food Bag” ready, these can go into the Student Foyer and then when we have our end-of-term Eucharist Service all the Bags will come up the front during the offertory hymn!
Our opening response in chapel this term from the Anglican Prayer Book really fits with this project:
Let not the needy, O God, be forgotten,
E Ihowā, kaua e ware ware tia te rawa kore.
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
Kaua anō te tūmanako o te rawa kore e whaka ko rea.
Make us instruments of your peace,
E Ihowā, meinga mātou hei karere mō tōu rangimārie.
And let your glory be over all the earth.
A, tukua tōu korōria kia horapa ki te ao katoa.
It is good to remind ourselves just how much we take things for granted, like having staples in the cupboard or fresh veggies in the fridge, and to be thankful for what we have when so many don’t (including skills like cooking or resources like slow cookers etc.). And it is really good to be able to be part of the answer of this opening response prayer.