Ecumenical High Tea raises funds and strengthens bonds

Freshly brewed coffee and tea served in fine china, fresh scones with jam and cream, finger sandwiches, quiches, cakes and slices were just some of the delicacies offered to guests at the annual Ecumenical High Tea fundraiser coordinated by a team of volunteers from St Paul’s Church Bentleigh.

More than 75 people from the local community enjoyed an afternoon of home-baked goods and refreshments to help raise $3,500 for two charities—Highways and Byways, Healing the Land, Healing Ourselves, Together (the mission entity of the Missionary Sisters of Service) and Community Information & Support (CIS) Glen Eira.

St Paul’s is one of three church communities (with St Peter’s and St Catherine’s) that make up Holy Trinity Parish in Bentleigh East, and parishioner Carmel Merrey has been helping to organise the event for many years. She says the Ecumenical High Tea was started as a lunch 60 years ago by fellow St Paul’s parishioner Aileen Gallagher, who is now 101 years old, ‘as a way of being able to connect with other faith communities in the area’.

‘Aileen took me on as an apprentice a few years back, and I knew she’d decided it was too much for her when she finally gave me her punch recipe ... I knew that was her way of saying, “It’s yours now, Carmel. Please go with it and keep it going for me”.’

The event has grown over the years to welcome a number of local faith and community groups, including representatives from the local Catholic Church communities, the Anglican and Uniting churches, the Salvation Army and the local Lions Clubs, as well as many family members and friends.

I just love that we can get so many people together from so many different faith and community groups .... I don’t think we do it enough.

‘We have managed to engage and connect with more people from the other faith communities,’ Carmel says. ‘And the event has evolved from the lunch to the High Tea afternoon event, which is easier to coordinate, given the parish hall facilities and the food we’re preparing for those who come.’

Carmel, who is also involved in the annual ecumenical World Day of Prayer, particularly appreciates the bonds that are formed by the high tea, saying, ‘I just love that we can get so many people together from so many different faith and community groups to share good food and fellowship together. We all share the same beliefs and values, and we all want to support other people. But it’s also just a nice way to spend time with people from other communities because I don’t think we do it enough.’

The money raised at the afternoon tea will be split equally between the two chosen charities. Through its annual grants program and through longer-term initiatives, particularly in small rural communities, Highways and Byways supports people and communities across Australia who are experiencing hardship and disadvantage. And for over 50 years, CIS Glen Eira has been providing help to Glen Eira residents experiencing personal and/or financial hardship by providing food relief and other material aid, ‘no interest loans’, financial support to pay utility bills, assistance with the cost of children’s education, counselling and short-term case management, referrals and advocacy.

Both Jane Collopy, Executive Director of Highways and Byways, and Dani Markovic, Branch Coordinator of CIS Glen Eira, spoke at the high tea, thanking those who had organised and participated in the event, and outlining some of the specific ways the funds would be spent.

It’s about the team that puts it all together and we have such a good team. And whether you do a little bit, or a lot, everything and anything that anybody does is valuable.

Carmel says the event has become a really special way for the community to give of their time and talent for those in need. ‘We have so many people who want to help in so many ways. The event runs solely on volunteers.’

‘It’s about the team that puts it all together and we have such a good team. And whether you do a little bit, or a lot, everything and anything that anybody does is valuable. It’s an important contribution because it doesn’t happen without the whole team working together.’

People were dropping off food to Carmel’s freezer weeks before the event, while others provided ingredients for the sandwich, slice and cake platters and Aileen’s ‘famous’ punch, donated raffle and door prizes, or gave their time to work in the kitchen, serve the guests at the tables or sell items on the ‘goods table’, including pot plants, fresh jams and marmalades, pickled vegetables and other homemade delicacies. Even the china was loaned by the Bayside branch of the Country Women’s Association.

Even on the day, people were still turning up to donate to the raffle and door prize giveaways. ‘I think I had seven raffle prizes in the morning, and on the day, we probably ended up with 11 or 12 prizes. It might be a box of chocolates, a bottle of wine or something much bigger, but everything is accepted with deep gratitude.’

It’s so beautiful to be in that room full of people from different facets of the community ... I love seeing the people move around from one table to another, and how they’re able to connect with each other and have a conversation and a laugh.

‘We have people who’ve been involved in the parish community for a very long time who help, and we have people that are new to the community. We also now have volunteers who aren’t connected to the Church but they just want to help. A lot of it has been through word of mouth,’ she says.

Carmel is thrilled with the money raised. ‘It is a huge amount of money! When we first started with Aileen, if we made $500, we thought we were doing a wonderful job. So $3,500 is fantastic.

‘I do this to honour Aileen, but also because I enjoy it. It’s so beautiful to be in that room full of people from different facets of the community who can come together to meet and get together while sharing in that common goal of raising some money for charity.

‘And I love seeing the people move around from one table to another, and how they’re able to connect with each other and have a conversation and a laugh. It’s just so lovely. The only downside to the event is when it ends!’