The very first project to be completed under Sydney Anglican Property’s Urban Renewal Pilot Program is now officially open, following a wonderful ceremony at the Beacon Hill Specialist Disability Accommodation facility last Thursday. The site’s first tenants will begin moving in over the coming weeks.
Archbishop Kanishka Raffel was there to do the official honours and reflected on 1 John 3:18 – “Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” – which appears on the plaque commemorating the facility’s opening.
“I’m so glad that, as Sydney Anglicans, we’re investing in our local communities and into people’s lives in this really wonderful way,” the Archbishop said.
The event was attended by representatives from project partners, Frenchs Forest Anglican Church, Sustainable Development Group, Casa Capace and Fighting Chance Australia, as well as Lynn Azzopardi, whose adult daughter will be one of the site’s first tenants.
Lynn, who took part in the official ribbon cutting ceremony and was first through the door for a walk-through of the facility, said she and her daughter had driven past the site every week during construction to take photos and had become increasingly excited as the site neared completion.
Lynn said she was incredibly grateful that the church had chosen to use the site of the former Holy Trinity church to provide a facility that would meet a real need in the local community and that her daughter was very excited to have a place of her own for the first time.
Archbishop Raffel, who had the opportunity to chat with Lynn as they walked through the new homes, said, “It was wonderful to hear Lynn’s excitement about her daughter taking this step towards independent living and her confidence in the people who are around [her] to make this happen.”
For further coverage of the event, including comments from SAP’s CEO Ross Jones and Rector of Frenchs Forest Anglican, Dave Lanham, check out this article from local news outlet Peninsula News.