Revd Robin Moore honoured

On 5 December 2011, the Revd Robin Moore, a deacon at St Philip's, received a 2011 National Volunteer Award, in the Individual Volunteer Award category. In celebration of 2011 being the International Year of Volunteers Plus 10 (IYV+10), the awards were presented by Senator Kate Lundy, Andrew Leigh MP and Gai Brodtmann MP in a ceremony at the Albert Hall.

Our Rector, Revd Rebecca Newland said, "It is wonderful acknowledgment for many, many, years of dedicated and faithful ministry. Robin accepted her award, was interviewed by the media, and went back to the centre to feed another 80 or so people."

This is from an article in the Canberra Times of 6 December 2011:

Volunteer brings more than just meals to needy
BY MEREDITH BACON
06 Dec, 2011

For Robin Moore, providing meals to the poor on behalf of the church is about much more than filling hungry stomachs.

It's about bringing people in from the margins of society and reconnecting them with the mainstream.

Her longstanding work with the neighbourhood centre outreach of St Phillip's Anglican Church, O'Connor, to the Northbourne flats since 1996 was recognised at the ACT National Volunteer Awards yesterday with the Individual Volunteer of the Year.

The centre, which she coordinates with a small team of volunteers, provides lunch and support to people on low incomes, the disadvantaged, the marginalised and some homeless, who have either been referred to them or are living in the Northbourne area.

The initiative started modestly, working from a small converted maintenance storage room and is now an important part of the Northbourne community, providing lunch for more than 80 people each Monday.

Ms Moore, who was recently made a deacon in the Anglican Church, sees her work as an extension of the deaconate ministry which she said is traditionally the role in the church that cares for the poor. "They tend to be on the margins of society, bringing the concerns of the world to the church and the church to the world," she said.

"Sometimes the problems that people are facing are extremely complex," she said, adding that there was a plaque at the flats in memory of the many people who have died there, a sad reality of when life becomes too hard or violence threatens.

Ten ACT volunteers were recognised at the event, which included individuals, teams, schools, churches and community organisations.

Photo: Karleen Minney