Click here to download the Parish Community Engagement brochure

For many years Anglican parishes have offered material support for the work of Anglicare in various ways. This includes the food and clothing for our emergency assistance work and recycling centres; donations for our Winter, Christmas and Archbishop’s appeals; selling Christmas cards and, of course, the many parish volunteers who work directly in our programs offering their support for people who participate in Anglicare’s services.

In recent years, Anglicare has become more involved in encouraging parishes to meet the needs and hopes of people in their local communities. A recent Parish Community Engagement Survey conducted by the Church in Society Ministry Unit of the Adelaide diocese has revealed a wider range of parish based projects than previously imagined. While some of these are independently run by local parishes, others are run in conjunction with Anglicare.

In some instances parish partnerships with Anglicare may be a simple matter of co-locating an Anglicare service in a parish site. This is happening at St Christopher’s Kilburn and more recently at St Jude’s Brighton with mental health respite programs coordinated by Anglicare staff. In some instances there is a more multifaceted partnership where one or more parishes are engaged with Anglicare. Examples of this include The Magdalene Centre, a partnership between St Mary Magdalene’s, St Peter’s Cathedral and Anglicare. A more recent example is the Picket Fence and Project Centre at St Mary’s, which has been run as a parish based program for many years and now includes a partnership with Anglicare.

In 2008, Anglicare established the Parish Partnership Development Fund to provide small grants of up to $5000 for parishes seeking to engage in new models of community outreach, whether independently or in partnership with Anglicare. So far the fund has supported an aged care visiting ministry at St Jude’s Brighton and a community market at St Bede’s Semaphore.

Parishes interested in applying for grants may do so at any time of the year, using this application form.

If your parish is interested in offering material support Anglicare, contact the Marketing Department on 8305 9234 or email admin@anglicare-sa.org.au

If your parish is interested in a parish community engagement project, a partnership with Anglicare or you wish to apply for a parish grant, contact the coordinator of chaplaincy, admin@anglicare-sa.org.au