Mission Projects at St. Andrew's Scots Kirk

A desire to help people struggling to make ends meet and the constant requests for help at the Manse door, led Rev John Purves and Elder Alex Wolvers to develop a more methodical approach of dealing with the situation and the “Helping Hands” project was born in 2006.

When the project was presented to the congregation and, recognising the need and compassion involved in setting up the project, a donor came forward to support and sustain it.  An initial fund was set up and a budget agreed by the Kirk Session.  Their choice for a co-ordinator was Maureen Gennard, a Sri Lankan fluent in Sinhala, Tamil and English, who willingly accepted the challenge and has organised and developed this St Andrew’s project from 2006 until she left to join her husband in the UK in 2019.  Maureen had started attending St Andrew’s in 2001, after meeting her future husband and they were married in the Church in 2004. 

The project has grown steadily over the years and frequently has new people coming to ask for help, based on the recommendation of others.  Each new applicant is visited at home by Maureen to verify their story.  Money is needed for families, the elderly, infirm, chronically ill, widows and single mothers.  Monthly cash grants are made to enable individuals and families to pay for food, medication, accommodation and schooling.  Maureen is passionate about the people being helped by the Church project and will always ‘go the extra mile’ for them, visiting people in hospital, attending funerals and keeping an eye on bereaved families.

A Christmas party is held for the Helping Hands families at the Church Hall, everyone enjoyed a selection of food and drink and a variety of games.  Musical chairs caused great hilarity and the competition for the ‘best dressed human Christmas tree’ revealed a lot of creativity amongst the Helping Hands families. After much hilarity lunch is served by the Church Elders and Helping Hands Project leaders to the Helping Hands families and there is always enough for a little take-away too.

 Three years ago, when our funds were very low, we had to phase out a number of families receiving the monthly allowance; however, after several appeals, our congregation responded very generously and we do now have several regular donors who continue to support the project_ We are very grateful to them and Livingston Church in Scotland for their support. St Andrew’s Annual Bazaar, also generates funds for this Project. 
We are always sensitive to any local people in the community looking for help. Many of the Helping Hands families are single mothers and elderly sick people  who find life a struggle. We especially strive to help those who live in the vicinity of the Church, however, we don`t refuse anyone whom we feel is in need of assistance. 

As well as distributing a stipend on a monthly basis to needy families, we also attend to other matters that often these families are faced with. Here are two recent stories that show what an act of kindness can do. 

Maureen and Rev. Ian approved a gift of Rs 8,000 to Pathmalatha Gamage to obtain the keys for a government flat. We were present when the keys to her new home were received. Their joy cannot be put into words. God had touched the heart of a government official who granted this flat to the family. To receive the keys of the flat, the family had to pay Rs8,000/- which they did not have. They thank Saint Andrew’s mission project for assisting them. 

Pushpawathi asked if we could support her and her family with dry rations because they are lacking food. The heavy rains have flooded their one room rented house and forced them to move into a relative’s who does not have the funds to feed them. During the next three months, we will provide dry rations. Pushpawathi is almost blind and until two months ago she was assisted by her son but, he had to have his leg amputated because of Diabetes. We hope in the future to provide a prosthetic leg to this young man who will then continue assisting his mother. Her husband has Tuberculosis.

Our role in this mission project is to give love, companionship, attention and financial assistance to those who don’t have. This is possible, because you, the congregation respond to their needs; we also shall never forget our friends abroad such as the Livingston Church in Scotland who always remember the Helping Hands project at Scots Kirk, Colombo with their generous contributions.

Joubert Gnanamuttu has taken over from Maureen Gennard as co-ordinator for the Helping Hands programme as Maureen left for the UK in October 2019 to join her husband.

Joubert is enjoying his new role as it keeps him occupied during his retirement and he sees it as a privilege to be working with the community who are less fortunate. He thanks God to have the opportunity to do this.

Joubert spends time visiting the Helping Hands families in their homes to see the challenging conditions in which they are living so that he can better assess the needs of the families.

We do not have unlimited funds at the Church but he hopes to find the means to help the families with more dry rations and to help attend to their health situations and subsidise their medical bills. He would like to organise help for them to travel to the hospital because they are not strong enough to take public transport and the cost of a tuk tuk is too high. Many of the families are struggling to manage their own situation but they are also burdened with help and care for their parents and elder relations.  

There is much work to do.

The Helping Hands Team