JULY 2015
Main Cornerstone Programs 2015
Pastor Don Cameron says…
Mondays
EDITORIAL: Cornerstone Coordinator Don Cameron
* Neighbourhood House programs
Tuesdays
4.30pm—6pm Hot meal program
Call Stefano on 0413 853 896
6pm+ Free music lessons
Call Tom on 0423 144 532
Wednesdays
10am-1pm Lunch served at 11.45am
7.30pm Bible study (call 0448 005 373)
29th July 5.30pm meal (Lions club)
Thursdays
10.30am-1pm Stone Soup lunch at
Doveton Baptist Church meal served at
midday. Call our Kitchen Manager Gloria
on 0404 988 960 for details.
6pm-8pm Manna4Life program.
Volunteers from Hallam Coptic Orthodox
Church serve meals at 7pm. Call Chris on
0412 111 461 for details.
30th July Hot breakfast of bacon, eggs
and pancakes etc. 8-9.30am (ATO staff)
* Neighbourhood House programs
Fridays
10am-1pm Lunch served at 11.45am
7pm+ Arabic Sudanese Prayer group
Call Pastor Andrew Luri 0401 436 331.
Saturdays
7pm-9.30pm Drop in program
A hot meal served around 7.30pm+
Sundays
Church program 3pm—5.30pm
Call Ps. Lynette on 0448 005 373 for info
* Dandenong Neighbourhood House
Telephone: (03) 9792 5298
http://www.dandenongnh.org.au
June was the coldest month of the year to date and we realised
that our aging heaters are nearing the end of their life. They
have served us well for many years and we hope to raise some
funds to replace them when the time comes.
Some people on student placements with us have visited our
patrons in hospital and they were delighted to get visitors and
asked for more visitors. Cornerstone is usually our first point
of contact with people but as we form friendships we often
end up as pseudo family.
There are many forms of love. I often visit people in prison and
see wives and children run into the visitors area to hug and kiss
their Dad/husband and the joy they have. Last weekend I took
an elderly lady to country Victoria to visit her middle aged son
who I met over coffee at Cornerstone many years ago. She had
not seen him in 18 months and the joy they both showed when
hugging each other was wonderful. I have never seen him so
happy in all his life. A real blessing to see it happen.
We were blessed to have the usual Tax Office social club
monthly breakfast program and also the Rapid Relief Team
breakfast as well. The breakfast programs always have children
on their way to school and happy people who are enjoying a
good breakfast to start the day.
There seems to be more people than usual attending the lunch
programs and we are still giving away a lot of backpack beds to
rough sleepers. We have heard some sad stories and have been
grateful we were in a position to help people with bedding, a
hot meal and often something to go on with. Perhaps the most
valuable thing we can give is an offer of ongoing support.
Most of the people who come in looking for assistance also
start attending other programs and over time not just survive
but thrive with the help of a supportive group who can direct
them to places who can assist in their time of need.
So we continue serving, giving and loving in the name of Jesus
and hoping for better things for struggling
people who come our way. We can tell many
happy stories of times this has happened.
MARANATHA!
Pastor Don Cameron
0415 888 528
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Our lunches have come a long way since Pastor Max and Alison Walker first came up
with the idea for a lunch program. To quote Pastor Max, “Cornerstone meals began with
four casseroles, and eight curious homeless men who saw the open door and wandered
in.” That was over twenty years ago and these days we sometimes have over one hundred
people coming in for lunch with a few ladies busy making and distributing many toasted
sandwiches all morning before seven large trays of different food are brought out to serve
lunch to anyone who wants it. In the early hours of the morning donated bread is put into
smaller plastic bags, carrots, potatoes, pumpkin and many other ingredients are prepared
and put into the dishes of the day and it is all ready to go at 11.45am when lunch is served.
There is a first serving and a second serving for people who might like some more and then
the desserts are handed out to whoever wants one and any food left over is packaged up.
Our kitchen crew prepare a few lunches for themselves to eat afterwards but there are
many times I’ve seen people come in late when everyone has eaten their fill and seen one
of the kitchen crew hand over their own lunch and missed out. After lunch there is lots of
washing up to be done but we have a small army of people helping us out with that. The
kitchen floor is swept and mopped and the ovens cleaned then the kitchen crew sit down to
share lunch together as our patrons finish up their snooker games and final hot drinks and
wonder out for the afternoon. Most lunchtimes we see a few people joining us for the first
time as well as many regulars. Neil Sleeth has been attending Cornerstone programs since
we opened the doors in 1992. Neil is well known by all and even though he has moved out
of the area he still regularly attends our programs and asks after all the people he has met
here over the twenty plus years he has been attending.
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Cornerstone has
worked alongside the
Eastern Region Mental
Health Association
(ERMHA) for over
twenty years and they
have used our building
to run programs for
several years now.
They do wonderful work in the community and run many programs including the
MIDDWAY Cobras Football team that many Cornerstone people have played for. Their
programs are very professional and may Cornerstone patrons are also ERMHA clients.
Our building still requires a lot of maintenance and our kitchen crew recently organised a
working bee just for kitchen maintenance. The domestic ovens were taken apart for some
very close attention and the gas burners functioned much better afterwards. Our industrial
oven also received some professional help to fix a broken door latch and the kitchen crew
are pretty happy with themselves on a job well done.
There are a lot of administration tasks that need to be done each week. We are grateful for
our treasurer who pays our bills and other admin people who don’t need to physically be
at Cornerstone to get their jobs done. We also need to empty our mailbox and reply to our
mail and phone messages which sometimes takes a while. We are grateful for all the help
we can get and we are continually amazed that so much can be done with so little.
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People often compliment the quality of the meals at Cornerstone and it is a great part of
our programs with some very hard working volunteers doing good work to feed others.
We really value what happens around the tables as people are eating a good meal. Our
regulars look forward to sitting at tables with fellow patrons where good things happen.
Cornerstone Contact Centre is a Christian faith mission run in the heart of downtown Dandenong. It combines welfare assistance with a Drop In facility to meet the needs of the many disadvantaged people.
Cornerstone is Trans-denominational being administered by Christians from a variety of churches and supported by volunteers from many backgrounds. Cornerstone uses the old Church of Christ building on the corner of Mason & Walker Streets in Dandenong.
Cornerstone is recognised as a safe haven for people who live on the fringes of society. It provides meals and
crisis assistance in the municipalities of Casey, Greater Dandenong and beyond with a large variety of other
programs that meet the needs of this very diverse community.
CORNERSTONE CONTACT CENTRE
Coordinator/Pastor Don Cameron
Postal Address: PO Box 358 Dandenong VIC 3175
Donations can also be sent to:
The Treasurer P.O Box 358 Dandenong Vic 3175.
Donations can also be given on line by clicking on the
'Make an online donation' tag on our website
(www.cornerstonecentre.com.au) and a receipt will be
automatically generated.
General Enquiries: (03) 9794 5654 / 0415 888 528
Email: [email protected]
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