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Lalor Park Community Chaplain

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18% of residents in Lalor Park live in social housing. A good number of social housing studio apartments, units and houses are located near the Lalor Park shops and St. Clement's Anglican Church. Many of the people who live in these properties live alone and are on disability pensions due to poor physical or mental health. Often people who have just come out of prison are housed in one of these places. A number of residents struggle with drug and alcohol issues. It is in this context that the Lalor Park community chaplain, working with St. Clement's Anglican Church Lalor Park, performs the following tasks:

  • Coordinating the Anglicare Mobile Pantry and Financial Assistance programs that run each fortnight out of the St. Clement's church hall.
  • Coordinating St. Clement's mercy ministries at Lalor Park Public School (e.g. Breakfast Club, Reading assistance).
  • Coordinating St. Clement's Work Development Order (WDO) program. WDO enables people who owe money to the State Government because of fines to be able to pay them off through volunteer work on the St. Clement's church property and doing life-skills courses.
  • Running of a weekly community friendship and discussion group in the local community centre.
  • Regularly engaging with local residents in the shopping precinct, but especially every Tuesday night at the Care van weekly meal held in the local community centre.
  • Assisting local residents to access services like NDIS, My Aged Care, Public Housing etc.
  • Being an advocate on behalf of local residents with government agencies etc.
  • Assisting local residents with other miscellaneous needs (e.g. helping people in emergency situations).
"When I think about the places where Jesus visited in his ministry, he was often drawn to those who were on the fringes of society, those who were considered outcasts and left to fend for themselves. The joy of my work at Lalor Park is that I get to do ministry in a place that Jesus would have also been drawn to. Lalor Park as a community has many needs, and it is a privilege as a chaplain to engage with people to see what those needs are, and to show the love of Christ to them by seeking to care for them as people and provide for those needs through the services of Anglicare, and other organisations. My hope is that Jesus' name will be honoured through my work, and that the community that I serve will be drawn to him, as he draws near to them."
Dennis Chan
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Anglicare acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the original and ongoing custodians of the lands and waters on which we live and work.

Inspired by the gospel of reconciliation in Jesus Christ, Anglicare's vision for reconciliation is a nation in which Australia's First Peoples are restored in dignity, respect, empowerment and opportunity.