Hampers lift spirits

The festive season will be a little brighter for 500 people this year with the delivery of VMCH’s annual Christmas hampers.

The hampers, delivered by VMCH staff members on December 6, are given to financially and disadvantaged people accessing our services, including people who live in affordable housing units.

The hampers are part of the award-winning VMCH Arts in Action program, which sees aged care residents use their artistic skills to make crafts for the hampers.

For the past few months, around 100 residents have been busy creating 2500 items including decorations, soaps, notepads and pens. The process is popular among residents, who benefit from social connections, a sense of purpose through giving to others, hand dexterity and joint movement and mental stimulation.

As a way of thanks, a group of affordable housing residents (below) also joined together on November 12 to create some beautiful Christmas wreaths to give back to the aged care residents who’ve worked so hard on their hamper items.

Balwyn affordable housing resident Michael Cutler (below) said he was thrilled to have received a hamper for the past two years.

“We all (residents) really appreciated the hampers and were very pleased to get one. I think it means a lot to a lot of people, especially if they’re on their own (around Christmas).”

The hampers are funded through workplace giving programs from within VMCH and the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne (CAM).

Arts in Action was awarded a ‘highly commended’ notation as a finalist in the 2018 Meaningful Ageing Australia Quality in Pastoral and Spiritual Care Practice Awards in September.