Dear Inner Circle

Through all the tears and the laughter; through the exhaustion and the inspiration; through the failures and the successes; you’ve been with us. I can hardly believe another year is done. In a few days, another Wayside Christmas street party will take place and an extraordinary outpouring of goodwill will be revealed in plain view, to lift and inspire all who have eyes to see. Naturally, there will be some who don’t see. Some will complain that their prawns are not as big as the prawns on their neighbour’s plate. Love is always invisible to those who are driven to profit. Yet for many who are just tired or hardened by life, the awesome at the heart of this day will have the power to capture and to bring joy. Those most in danger of missing it are those who think they are manufacturing it. To our precious staff and volunteers, I say, “don’t forget to look”. To you, our inner circle, I can hardly overstate how important you are to our life. You have made time to read of our work every week this year. Some of you have written to share your own heart and your own life stories. Many of you have sent in shampoos, undies and socks. Many hundreds of you have sent messages of love that meant the world to us. Many of you have supported our “Donate a Plate” and Christmas appeal or arrived at our front door asking how you can help.

Here’s to you, our precious inner circle. Thank you for being there for us.

On behalf of all of Wayside, I wish you a happy Christmas and a 2018 that is full of life. All the food has been delivered and our volunteers are in place for our Christmas Day celebrations, but if you have no plans I welcome you to join us as a guest on the day. If there is any danger of being lonely this Christmas, come and join us and let the sheer joy of this day capture you and surprise you. We will close Hughes Street and once again the road will be filled with celebration. We will help love prevail, as we do each Christmas. Our street church service and choir will begin at 10.30am, singing traditional carols. Surely the street is the perfect place to sings those songs. The service runs for only about 30 minutes in total. A generous lunch will be served to all and then we’ll crank up the music and see neighbours and street dwellers dancing together in the street. It’s inspiring as well as fun.

Wayside is open 365 days a year but I will give this note a rest for a few weeks over the Christmas / New Year period. I’ll be back in your inbox in mid-January.

Until then, thanks for being part of our inner circle,

Graham

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