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Pastor Don Cameron says…

NOVEMBER 2014

EDITORIAL: Cornerstone Coordinator Don Cameron

What a month it has been. We’ve had new programs, donations from unexpected places and other news both good and bad. The media have approached us asking if we knew the man who lost his life in Dandenong Park. We have heard conflicting stories about who it was and we are waiting for the Police to release the person’s name. It is always sad when a life is cut short and unfortunately our patrons are often at risk due to where and how they live their lives. At the last Cornerstone Board meeting our treasurer pointed out that our income has dropped by $18 000 compared to this time last year. We have noticed more people coming in for meals and food hampers and we are told that business around our area has not been booming so perhaps this explains regular donors dropping out. We are hoping this changes very soon. The State Election is almost upon us and we have met some really decent people who replied to my email asking them to visit us in their quest to be elected. I was impressed by the quality of all the candidates and how well they knew the issues of their electorate. We will be praying for whoever gets in. We had a new team put on a Thursday morning breakfast and the Neighbourhood House team are also thinking of putting one on as well. Two Lions clubs are now running Wednesday night meals and this Saturday we have our first traditional Chinese Tea with finger food and Chinese dishes served by people from the Eastern Chinese Baptist Church. We’ve never been busier, never served more meals and I can’t remember having more people through the doors in the twenty plus years we’ve been open. Most of our regular programs will cease over January 2015 but the Manna For Life program will continue every Thursday night all year round and even run a Christmas meal program at 7pm on Christmas day. The team are from St Mina & St Marina's Coptic Orthodox Church in Hallam and our patrons love them and the great meals they serve. So we are getting ready for Christmas and the end of another very blessed year at Cornerstone. We pray you will have the joy of knowing Jesus this this Christmas. MARANATHA!

Pastor Don Cameron 0415 888 528 Email: DonInDandenong@netscape.net

Main Cornerstone Programs 2014

Cornerstone Psychologist and Care Africa leader Dr Moses Adepoju. Call Moses on 0403 346 298 for an appointment.

Mondays

* Neighbourhood House programs

Tuesdays

4.30pm—6pm Hot meal program

Call Stefano on 0413 853 896 for details

6pm+ Free music lessons

Call Tom on 0423 144 532 for details

Wednesdays

10am-1pm Lunch served at 11.45am

7.30pm Bible study (call 0448 005 373)

26th Nov only—5.30pm meal (Lions)

Thursdays

10.30am-1pm Stone Soup lunch at Doveton Baptist Church meal served at midday. Call our Kitchen Manager Gloria on 0404 988 960 for details.

6.30pm-8pm Manna4Life program. Volunteers from Hallam Coptic Orthodox Church serve meals at 7pm. Call Chris on 0412 111 461 for details.

27th Nov Hot breakfast of bacon, eggs and pancakes etc 8-10am (ATO staff)

* Neighbourhood House programs

Fridays

10am-1pm Lunch served at 11.45am

Saturdays

7pm-9.30pm Drop in program

A hot meal served around 8pm

* 29th Nov only—Chinese tea 3.30pm-6

Sundays

Church program 3pm—5.30pm Call Ps. Lynette on 0448 005 373 for info

*Dandenong Neighbourhood House

Telephone: (03) 9792 5298 http://www.dandenongnh.org.au

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A new team started at Cornerstone this month putting on an excellent breakfast program with a live band and a very professional set up. The Rapid Relief Team is accustomed to serving fire brigade officers and other people working in community service by the side of the road or wherever they need to be. A few months ago they asked if Cornerstone would like their help and we were quick to accept their offer and our patrons were delighted with the large breakfast they put on. We hope to have them back again very soon and hopefully it may even be a monthly breakfast program. We’ll see what happens in 2015.

Final program dates for 2014

Doveton lunch Thurs 18th Dec 2014

Weekday lunches - Friday 19th Dec 2014

Saturday night meal 20th Dec 2014

Start up dates for 2015

Weekday lunches Wed 4th Feb onwards

Doveton lunch Thursday 5th Feb onwards

Saturday night meal 7th Feb onwards

Thursday night meals continue all year round — even on Christmas day!

Students on placements with us are invited to read out the menu and get involved in many areas of what we do at Cornerstone. We were happy to have one Christian VCAL student share a short gospel message before lunch. Penina was nervous but spoke well. After she finished our patrons applauded loudly. Penina is a well liked volunteer who has been kind to our people and they were very happy to listen to her for a few minutes.

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As the State Election date draws closer we have been visited by more politicians. Last month we had an ALP rep in and a week later Joanna Palatsides from the Liberal party made it in. We also had representatives from the Australian Christian party come along. Our patrons enjoyed hearing a short message from each of them before lunch and the chance to ask candidates questions about political issues. They appear to be very hard working people and I think they will sleep well when it’s all over next Saturday night.

We were happy to get a call from a school down the road whose students had made several boxes of biscuits and wanted to donate them to people who didn’t have any. I took them straight back to Cornerstone and the boxes were opened immediately. The biscuits were all gone within the hour and our patrons appreciated every one of them. We can’t use all the things offered to us but packaged food in boxes with a list of the ingredients is helpful. Thank you Maranatha Christian School.

Cornerstone partners with a large number of Church and community groups and we were happy to hear Doveton Baptist Church has another counsellor with them. Coral Belrost can be contacted on 9706 9081 or 0417 010 497 (email horizonsofhope@bigpond.com). Many of us have complex issues and face to face counselling with a professional can help us think clearer about things we are dealing with. It is good to have Coral around.

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Cornerstone Contact Centre is a Christian faith mission run in the heart of downtown Dandenong. It com-

bines welfare assistance with a Drop In facility to meet the needs of the many disadvantaged people.

Cornerstone is Trans-denominational being administered by Christians from a variety of churches and sup-

ported by volunteers from many backgrounds. Cornerstone uses the old Church of Christ building on the cor-

ner of Mason & Walker Streets in Dandenong.

Cornerstone is recognised as a safe haven for people who live on the fringes of society. It provides meals and

crisis assistance in the municipalities of Casey, Greater Dandenong and beyond with a large variety of other

programs that meet the needs of this very diverse community.

CORNERSTONE CONTACT CENTRE Coordinator/Pastor Don Cameron Postal Address: PO Box 358, Dandenong VIC 3175 Donations can also be sent to: The Treasurer P.O Box 358 Dandenong Vic 3175. Donations can also be given on line by clicking on the

'Make an online donation' tag on our website

(www.cornerstonecentre.com.au) and a receipt will be

automatically generated.

General Enquiries: (03) 9794 5654 / 0415 888 528 Email: DonInDandenong@netscape.net

The Cornerstone treasurer (Kristy) has been volunteering with us for several years now but mostly from her home making sure the bills are paid and all our financials are in order. It is always good to have Kristy in helping serve lunch. She is one of many professional people behind the scenes keeping us operational. Kristy and her workmates are part of a corporate group that are given community hours to come in to help serve lunch. We welcome other corporate groups to visit us as well.

Once again we were visited by a team from the Victorian Electoral Commission who opened a polling booth at Cornerstone for two hours so our patrons could vote early and beat the expected rush next Saturday. Some of our people struggle with crowds and it was good for them to be able to come in for a coffee and a chat and then get their voting done before sitting down for lunch (stir fry chicken with other dishes that day).