Raising funds for an existing chaplain can be a monumental task, but raising support for a role with no face or name is another ask entirely…
Laura Van Zyl, an intervention teacher at Hercules Road State School, saw a genuine need in the school for a chaplain to provide additional support for students struggling with a range of social, academic and family issues.
The school now has a 100% community-funded chaplain, Chappy Nathan, who is employed two days per week.
“Hercules Road is in a pretty low socio-economic area, and I saw a real need in the school for not only physical support; meaning food and shoes and basic care; but also to support the children and teachers emotionally and spiritually,” Laura recalls.
“Over the past six months we have raised $32,000 for our school chaplaincy program – all from the local community.
“We had the initial goal to fund one day per week till the end of 2018, but thanks to community support we smashed that figure. Once we saw the commitment from parents and churches in the area, we realised we could raise enough to fund our chaplain for two days each week.”
Laura said the need she saw motivated her to act, so she set about raising support and funds for their very first school chaplain.
“I went to our local rotary club for support. They’ve always been big advocates for chaplaincy so they were happy to pull some funds together,” she says.
“With an initial donation in hand, I set up a meeting with our principal and local Field Development Manager [FDM] Andrew Boardman. This got a discussion going.”
Laura said when raising support for a school-based service, it’s important to identify people around you who have strong contacts and influence in the local community.
“I think if you want to raise support for a chaplain, you need to find like-minded people who are all completely on board,” she says.
“A good example of this came from our FDM, Andrew Boardman, who put me in touch with a private benefactor living in our community who donated more than $9,000 directly towards our school chaplaincy program.
“Once you’ve got a good group of passionate people around you – get out in the community! I went and spoke at a bunch of churches, did lots of emailing and phone calls and talked to lots of people – it’s not easy but over the 4-6 months the doors opened for us and the support is only a testament to that.”
TIPS
- If you don’t have a chaplain, determine whether there is a need for one by speaking with members of your school community, P&C, etc.
- Approach local community groups, such as the Rotary Club, and churches. Members of the local community care about the next generation, you just need to approach them and get them on board.
- Reach out to the SU QLD Field Development Manager in your area – they have strong contacts that can greatly help you raise support from your community.