A couple of very good sorts

When she was very young Anne Burgess told herself she would volunteer at the Christchurch City Mission when she was older. And that’s exactly what she has done on and off for most of her life.

A few years ago she took it step further and coaxed her previously less-interested husband Mike into the foodbank to help with some heavy lifting one Christmas. Now he comes in two days a week, just like her, and work includes being our van driver doing pickups.

Volunteering at the City Mission can be a bit like that. It gets into the blood and, as Mike puts it, “I can't think of anything else I could be doing that would be more useful for other people than what I'm doing”.

Anne’s much longer history with the City Mission is pretty special.

Her family went to St John’s Church, which was closely linked with the City Mission, and her father, Owen Michel, was on the City Mission committee.

What she saw as a child left a very powerful impression.

“We used to have a lot of people sleeping in the doorways of the church and they'd come into church and be sitting in the back of the church. I always said to myself that when I grow up I would do voluntary work at the City Mission.”

When Anne had her first child in the 1970’s she became involved with the City Mission Mothers Group, which was run in the St Johns Church Hall at the time. She would make lunch for the single mothers who came. At other times she also helped cook meals for City Mission clients.

But the latest spell as a City Mission volunteer started about 11 years ago when a friend invited her along to her foodbank team and she’s been with the Thursday group ever since.

“I come here because I love helping. I love doing something to help the foodbank and to help the City Mission.”

Anne is also a regular donor, so she is one of our very special supporters who give us their time and their money. We think it’s a pretty good acknowledgment of the worth of our work when donors work on the site right alongside us, seeing what we see and what we do.

“Volunteering here is really rewarding. It does make you feel good and worthwhile when you are doing it,” Anne says.