Meet Australia's Cameron family
In early February of this year, I received a wonderful note from a precious sister in
Christ who lives in Australia. After we’d corresponded a bit, she said she felt
inspired to contact a nearby nursing home
about reaching out to the residents.
Australia is still under painful covid
restrictions, so she knew she wouldn’t
be able to visit anyone at this time.
But she came up with the brilliant idea
of writing to the residents with the help
of her children. It has turned into a
lovely ministry for everyone concerned,
as indicated by this article, which she
wrote for the facility’s newsletter.
In early February of this year, I received a wonderful note from a precious sister in
Christ who lives in Australia. After we’d corresponded a bit, she said she felt
inspired to contact a nearby nursing home
about reaching out to the residents.
Australia is still under painful covid
restrictions, so she knew she wouldn’t
be able to visit anyone at this time.
But she came up with the brilliant idea
of writing to the residents with the help
of her children. It has turned into a
lovely ministry for everyone concerned,
as indicated by this article, which she
wrote for the facility’s newsletter.
The Letter Exchange
It goes without saying, that 2020 was a taxing year for many of us. It's especially hard when you can't see your family as often as you'd like to.
I'm a home-schooling mum (of the pictured children), and my parents live right across the road from Salem nursing home.
One day during the 2021 Easter break, I was sitting on the front veranda at my parent's place, with my mum and sister when I noticed a couple turn up at Salem for a visit, but of course they had to be turned away, because we were under restrictions at that point. Seeing this, and also having being inspired by a friend in the USA, who for 20 years has been visiting the folk in the nursing home her mother used to live in, got me thinking. Visiting might be difficult, but we could write letters to the residents, which is one of the next best things to visiting!
So, I got on the Salem website and made contact, to see if this was a possibility. I was impressed at how quickly we found two very enthusiastic emails in response, saying they would love to be a part of this.
My girls in particular love writing letters to friends who are too far away to visit, so I shared this idea with them, and they were very keen to join in. We live just outside Toowoomba, but regularly come in for work, and visiting my parents, so we aimed to drop an envelope of letters to the residents in the mail box there, every Friday. Then Jo (the activities coordinator at Salem) works with the residents to write a combined reply, and drops it in my parent's mail box.
We have loved the letter exchange, sharing stories, getting to learn about life at Salem and hopefully we are bringing cheer to our new friends there, who may be feeling isolated at times. We're thankful for this chance to get to know you the family at Salem!
From the Cameron Family
It goes without saying, that 2020 was a taxing year for many of us. It's especially hard when you can't see your family as often as you'd like to.
I'm a home-schooling mum (of the pictured children), and my parents live right across the road from Salem nursing home.
One day during the 2021 Easter break, I was sitting on the front veranda at my parent's place, with my mum and sister when I noticed a couple turn up at Salem for a visit, but of course they had to be turned away, because we were under restrictions at that point. Seeing this, and also having being inspired by a friend in the USA, who for 20 years has been visiting the folk in the nursing home her mother used to live in, got me thinking. Visiting might be difficult, but we could write letters to the residents, which is one of the next best things to visiting!
So, I got on the Salem website and made contact, to see if this was a possibility. I was impressed at how quickly we found two very enthusiastic emails in response, saying they would love to be a part of this.
My girls in particular love writing letters to friends who are too far away to visit, so I shared this idea with them, and they were very keen to join in. We live just outside Toowoomba, but regularly come in for work, and visiting my parents, so we aimed to drop an envelope of letters to the residents in the mail box there, every Friday. Then Jo (the activities coordinator at Salem) works with the residents to write a combined reply, and drops it in my parent's mail box.
We have loved the letter exchange, sharing stories, getting to learn about life at Salem and hopefully we are bringing cheer to our new friends there, who may be feeling isolated at times. We're thankful for this chance to get to know you the family at Salem!
From the Cameron Family
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