Baptist Community Services celebrates 65 years

A five-month long relay celebrating the 65 year anniversary of care provider Baptist Community Services – NSW & ACT (BCS) will visit Canberra today.

Eight local BCS staff, clients, residents and volunteers will walk alongside the dignitaries and carry the “Hands of Care” baton today, travelling down Monaro Crescent and Carnegie Crescent to finish at BCS Morling Lodge.

Staff and volunteers from a variety of BCS’ local care services in Canberra, Queanbeyan and Goulburn will be united in the anniversary celebration, including Red Hill-based care facilities BCS Morling Lodge and Village, BCS Carey Gardens Centre and BCS George Forbes House in Queanbeyan as well as BCS Care Centres located in Red Hill, Goulburn and Queanbeyan.

The baton, making its way from the relay launch in Sydney on 21 April, has travelled across Sydney, to the Illawarra, Wagga Wagga, Parkes and Dubbo, and will travel across all BCS regions with 16 events in total, heading as far north as Alstonville, south to Canberra and west to Parkes. The relay will conclude in August.

Copies of a special commemorative news sheet are being carried in the packaged-theme baton, capturing the spirit of how special news was delivered in 1944.

A special celebration ceremony will be held at each venue, followed by a thank you lunch, morning or afternoon tea, where BCS will salute the great work of staff and volunteers providing hands of care to BCS clients.

“Increasingly in our communities we can identify growing community needs, among the aged, families living with great pressures, youth at risk, the poor and others struggling with disadvantage and distress,” said Dr June Heinrich, chief executive officer of BCS.

“The BCS vision began in 1944 with a small group of men and women; united together in faith and a vision to express Christ’s love in practical ways to people in need.”

“As our relay passes from one hand to the next across NSW and the ACT, we are reminded of the privilege that each of us have to use our “hands of care” in meeting the unmet physical, emotional and spiritual needs of others in the community,” said Dr Heinrich.

A not-for-profit Christian organisation, BCS was established by the Baptist Churches of NSW and ACT in 1944.

BCS has grown into a significant care provider, employing 3,500 people across 150 facilities and programs. A further 1,000 people serve the organisation as volunteers. This year’s operating budget exceeds $170 million.