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Auckland City Mission and St Matthew's

City Missioner Helen Robinson speaks about the history of the relationship between the City Mission and St Matthew's which goes back 100 years. 
Helen Robinson

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Auckland City Mission and St Matthew's

Transcript
Good morning, everyone. What's a privilege? It is for me to be here today, in the first and in my role. As Auckland City Commissioner, I am the tenth and a line that takes us back. 101 years to Jesper. Calder himself. Chris Farrelly. My predecessor used to describe same mass as The Crucible of the mission. Out of this place, the mission was born and through that, the sense of connection and belonging between st. Mets. And the mission has been made or his ear and Robert Cohen, his Heir, Robert glibly. I can be a say that word has brought us together. Totally and utterly always I am very conscious that in this room. Today we have board members of commission. We have staff members, we have volunteers, we have funders, we have supporters queer and our midst. I'm very conscious that now. And for many many years has used to say Mets and spaces and places of place to hold events. And our relationship is varied, multiple rich, and whakapapa and history, layered generous and profound. It has, if I may Echo the words of the first readings with breathe height depth length, it's palpable. It's strong and it's alive. Arrow identity at its core is defined by who we belong to and say Mets and emission belong to each other. This is connection will be literally across the car park in the coming months during the week. I was told that we have just under 100 days until the 1st of November which is when Service delivery and home ground again. I counted up and preparation for today. And from today, it is 98 days until the 1st of November. When this extraordinary feat of a building, a symbol of generosity of people working together, a symbol of Hope of Daring to believe in the dreams of having courage and never giving up will open. This is and will be a magnificent building next door. Magnificent certainly because of the building and the architecture, but perhaps, even more, so magnificent because of the reason or the intent, for which it was built and what will happen on its anxiety. So the building includes 80 apartments for people, to be housed permanently two floors of a detox unit, a medical center more than double the size of what we currently have now including the dentist service. A beautiful rooftop Community rooms and spaces our service called hiya Hatta which wolf runs now with a team of people, we are a community center with 365 days. A year, we welcome of fun over and 41. Good hot meal. There will be a special room and home ground that has yet to be named but as sometimes called a quiet true. More fun. I room and we'll me akin to a chapel and should the occasion unfolds that will also be where our deed will claim? The breadth of the building takes us from Federal Street right through to Hobson Street. We are your neighbor and a 98 days. We really, really will be your neighbor. In fact, we returned to be next to you. I am and we are incredibly proud of the whakapapa the connection between st. Matt's in the mission that does link us together. Jesper called in the mission, since has existed to respond to the reality of desperation in our city. It's both an act of compassion and act of justice, but importantly today and active inclusion. The needs that we see whether it be the reality of people living without a home without access to enough, good food or access to good. Healthcare is only so, because we as a society have constructed it, There is a group of people who we say along and are worthy of inclusion and sadly an indictment on our community. There is a group of people who we say, we are not worthy and do not belong. And it holds a real mirror up to the soul of us as a people. And we start to ask ourselves some very, very difficult questions. Why is it that women in our country bear? The burden of poverty. Why is it that particularly woman raising children alone and Marty and Pacific woman? Particularly be their burden. Why is it that overwhelmingly? It is Marty who had been rendered homeless in their own land. Serious and Incredibly challenging questions that call us to wonder, who do we include? And who do we exclude And how can we move to a reality of inclusion of abundant and radical and total inclusion? I was quite moved today. When I saw that today's Gospel was about the reading or the feeding of the 5000. I have to acknowledge that, as a child, I genuinely believed Jesus had a magic wand and would take these byblos, and these two fish, and with this magic wand to produce enough food for everyone, A slightly older more mature reading taught me to actually reflect that. Another depth of the miracle that had happened. That day, is that each person, their the 5,000, the woman, and the children, each gave of what they could. And that each of us and giving what we can create, an abundance, we are all are free. Our feed, in fact, one of the The lines that I love and that gospel is about the Freedmen's that are left over. And in fact, even the fragments left over created 12 baskets. I could frame that. And another way to say that, that fragments left over creates many things including the building, that is worth 110 million dollars. When we started this five or six years ago, whoo, whoever would have thought that we could have done it. Many times over the last number of years, and in fact, even still, I feel more like Philip and the story, The One whose fears how are we going to do this? Whether that's about building this building and accessing the resources and again, perhaps more importantly, how will we the mission access the resources? We need to to feed the 17,000 families that will come to us. This is here for food. Those 17,000 families represent 48,000 food Parcels that we have distributed in the last year and we have no reason to think that it will be any less this year. I honestly often go home and feel like I don't know how we will do this. It's interesting slightly older. Now, when I read a third lens on that gospel and I read Allen's of inclusion and connection and belonging. What was the glue that helps that crowds together? and importantly, what created or grew their willingness to share until we all had been fed What made them aware of their shared responsibility? And there she had potential. What was the miracle and deeds that did occur that day? What helped them say that they belong to each other? Same axis, the mission. We Belong Together. I belong to you, you belong to me. We belong to each other.