A mother finds compassion and respect <\/p>\n
Margaret first heard about Bay Leaf through a counsellor she was seeing after a dramatic life change. She says she was initially too ashamed and anxious to attend, but Martin was persistent with his invitation.<\/p>\n
When she eventually arrived with her daughter, Archdiocesan Deacon Royden D\u2019Souza\u2014a Bay Leaf volunteer who helps with pastorial care\u2014made them feel welcome. \u2018I told [Martin and Deacon Royden] a little bit about my story. At that time, you know, I hadn\u2019t told a lot of people. I was going through the court system, which was a very traumatic time for me, and they just made me feel comfortable.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Bay Leaf is not just a building, it\u2019s a place where you are respected. There is compassion here, there is help, someone to listen to you, and there\u2019s lots of love here.\u2019<\/p>\n
Eventually, Margaret began volunteering with Bay Leaf Community Kitchen, again at Martin\u2019s suggestion. \u2018I don\u2019t know if he regrets it now, because I\u2019m bossing him around all day with lists and things,\u2019 she laughs.<\/p>\n
Bay Leaf is not just a building, it\u2019s a place where you are respected. There is compassion here, there is help, someone to listen to you, and there\u2019s lots of love here.<\/p>\n
She says her work has given her a renewed sense of purpose after a period marked by stress, anxiety and concern for her much-loved daughter.<\/p>\n
\u2018My role here is to help and assist others, to care for others, and make sure that everyone is okay, and being a part of a team, just continuing the great work that we do.\u2019<\/p>\n
The organisation\u2019s community support extends beyond the kitchen. Volunteers and staff deliver food, visit people who cannot attend and check on families in crisis, Margaret says. \u2018We go out to people\u2019s homes, not only with food, but we spend time with them.<\/p>\n
\u2018The Bay Leaf team is a team of people that have values and morals, beliefs, and faith.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mother finds compassion and respect Margaret first heard about Bay Leaf through a counsellor she was seeing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6866,6864,6865,6310,6868,6869,260,6867,6870,68],"class_list":["post-74510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-archbishop","tag-archdiocese","tag-catholic","tag-child-safety","tag-community","tag-jesus","tag-melbourne","tag-parish","tag-sacraments","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}