Salvos bringing Christmas hope in the Bega Valley
It has been a challenging few years in the beautiful Bega Valley (NSW) after catastrophic fires, years of limited tourism due to COVID-19, plus an ongoing housing affordability and availability crisis. In the midst of this, The Salvation Army’s Deb and Rod Parsons are working to give the gift of hope to their community – this Christmas and in the year ahead.
The Bega Valley, on the NSW ‘Sapphire Coast’ is an area popular with tourists, and home to a wide range of locals including dairy and oyster farmers, fishers, those living ‘off-grid’, surfers, business owners, young families, retirees and more.
Salvation Army officer Rod Parsons, who co-manages the Salvos in Bega with wife Deb, were appointed to head The Salvation Army in Bega more than six years ago. Rod says: “We actually felt we were appointed to the whole Bega Valley (not just our local church and centre). That is some 34,000 people. We really believe that they’re all our community.”
Providing support after fires and pandemic
Over the past few years, the Bega Valley has experienced periods of serious drought and fire.
Not long after Christmas 2019, the Black Summer fires hit the area with a vengeance, forcing locals to shelter on beaches, destroying the main street of the town of Cobargo, claiming lives, destroying stock, native animals, outbuildings and well over 450 homes.
The local Salvos (as well as a wider team) were actively involved in bushfire support and follow up through two major fire years, as well as general community support. The team also works with more than 100 other local service agencies to support the community.
Only months after the fires, years of on-again, off-again COVID restrictions began, limiting tourism to the area from NSW, Victoria and the ACT. Now, Rod says the area is facing a serious housing crisis in part because of houses being used for holiday houses and tourist rentals rather than long-term rentals, and because of extra demand as people rebuild homes destroyed in the fires.
“Lack of housing and general homelessness is an enormous issue here. Rental prices and demand is through the roof. As soon as houses come on the market, people buy them sight unseen from the cities,” he says.
“I also act as a local juvenile supervisor, so when kids get arrested, I go and sit with them through the arrest process. A lot of those kids have to be taken to a juvenile detention centre, because sadly they’re homeless.”
If times are tough, the Salvos are here to offer you hope this Christmas.
Despite the fact that the Bega Salvos experienced their greatest demand ever for support last Christmas, the season was also one of the best, Rod says, because local community support was strong.
“The last Christmas period was the busiest we’d had,” Rod says. “We ended up giving out around 240 food hampers – that covered about 230 families – and toy hampers for 364 children.
“But it was also one of the most exciting and happy Christmases we’d had, because we had so many people come on board, donating food and gifts, and wanting to volunteer. So many people wanted to help their community, using the Salvos as an avenue to do that. That was very special.”
For Rod, pastoral care is the most important aspect of Salvos Christmas care and his work. To him, Christian faith is integral to that depth of care.
He says: “So often, everyone focuses on the action – such as toys and gifts [and carols] – but what’s driving us is serving Jesus, our Lord, in our community. That’s the motivation behind what we do as The Salvation Army.
“I come from a reasonably privileged background, even though we weren’t a rich family. Christmas for me was always family time. I could never have imagined being more excited than I was at Christmas as a kid.
“But since coming to know the Lord, and becoming a minister for Jesus in the Salvos, the joy I now feel far outweighs any of that. It’s a spiritual joy which is far more exciting and far, far deeper than I could ever have imagined as a youngster.”
Support and hope at Christmas
Deb Parsons says there are many beautiful moments each year at Christmas time and beyond.
She says: “We have what looks like a pop up ‘shop’ at Christmas, so we have all our toys set up in our hall and we roster people to come in and do their ‘shopping’ (which of course is all free). We have a helper for each person and have no more than two people at a time in the space, so it is quiet.
“We had a lady who was struggling come before Christmas – who had never come to us before. She went in the door, looked at the room full of toys and just stopped there and burst into tears. She said, ‘I can’t believe I can go “shopping”.’
“And then we explained how it works and how many toys she could get, and she burst into tears again. She came out with a whole big bag full of toys and she broke down again and said, ‘No-one has ever, ever done this for me.’
“By this stage we were all crying,” Deb smiles, recalling the moment.
Salvation Army support making Christmas special in tough times
“When you’re struggling and you haven’t had any high points, then we want to make Christmas at least one highpoint [of the year],” Deb says.
“As we get together with the community and all look after each other as a family ... I truly believe God is at the very heart of that.
“And really, that is the heart of the Christmas story – God coming close.”
Celebrate God’s gift of hope this Christmas at your local Salvos church