Community Connect is our way of connecting you to the ERCS community. In this edition you’ll find:

• An update from CEO, Andrée Brown

• Our Impact in 2021 by the numbers

• How to make a tax-deductible donation before the EOFY

• The Pride Tree Project at Mt. Atkinson

• Homework Clubs are more than just a Homework Club

• 5 exciting positions that we're advertising across our organisation

• Social Justice Resources for Schools from the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education. 

Thank you for your ongoing support of Edmund Rice Community Services and its communities across Australia. 

I was on a plane heading to a meeting in Sydney and attentively listened to the safety briefing by Qantas.  It got to the last 30 seconds where the children were singing Still Call Australia Home, the flying kangaroo and the words “Spirit of Australia” – flashed onto the screen.  It got me thinking.  Do we see that tagline as one of a company expressing faith?  What do they mean the ‘spirit’ of Australia?  Are they indicating that they are spirit driven?

In our last Community Connect newsletter I reflected on what constitutes the DNA of our emerging organisation.  Very clearly authentic relationship is at our heart.  Standing alongside that is our spirit centredness, our commitment to embracing the spirit of each person, our collective spirit and the universal spirit that ties us together.  As an organisation we spend time in our work acknowledging spirit, learning about it and celebrating it.  As we celebrate Refugee Week, it is important to reflect on the many ways people around the world embrace this spirit within and around them.  For some it has faith connections, for others, a deep connection to values and personal growth.  For me, it is the thread that ties us and all life to each other and invites us to nurture, cherish and live to the fullest. 

The way we embrace being spirit centred is important – how we do it. We are emerging as learners – we have the greatest teachers walking alongside us in this space, our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  Their patience and willingness to be present with us, to offer their deep spirit and knowledge is welcomed.  ERCS is very proud to support the Uluru Statement from the Heart and, led by the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education, advocate for a future of reconciliation and growth together. 

We all have a spirit and are part of the spirit.  It is what makes our work so fulfilling and sustains us.  

We are often asked about the size of our organisation and the level of service we provide to the community. Well here’s one way of answering that! The video linked above is a quick look at some of the impact we made last year. As we continue to grow as an organisation we look forward to bringing you more evaluation, more data, and more stories of impact that capture our shared journey of building communities where people thrive and belong.

We live in a world of extremes – extreme wealth, extreme climate and extreme inequality. Responding to these extremes can no longer be the sole preserve of academics, politicians and policymakers. Education has an important role to play.

The Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education has developed a number of educational resources that can be used by teachers to incorporate themes of social justice, human rights and eco-justice into the classroom.