Barry Denholm is part of Remuera Baptist Church in Auckland.
What investment company could offer a five-fold return on an investment?
Remuera Baptist Church achieved that astronomical number during an audacious project to help Auckland’s poor.
$100 was given to every adult that wanted to take part in the scheme, and $10 to every child, and asked them to multiply that seed money in creative ways.
What happened next felt like watching a garden bloom.
One person bought paints and turned blank canvas into art.
Another bought coffee beans and sold cup after cup to their friends.
Families baked cakes, slices and cookies until kitchens smelled like a festival.
Others stitched, crafted, built, repaired, donated - each contribution a thread in a tapestry of creativity and compassion.
Within six months the $4,540 that had been distributed grew to $26,300, all of it destined to Aucklanders doing it tough. $10,000 has already been given to Orange Sky whose van travels around Auckland offering laundry and shower facilities to people experiencing homelessness. A further gift to help abused women and children is being processed.
The fundraising project, called SALT (Serving Auckland with Love and Thanks) was an important part of Remuera Baptist’s Centenary celebration. “The church has been serving its community with practical help since 1926,” says the current pastor Rev Murray Jenkins. “SALT works well with our ethos: creatively working to multiply kindness and finding new ways to be what Jesus told us to be- ‘salt’ in the world”.
The centenary celebrations concluded on 2nd August with a special service honouring a legacy of faith. service, and community engagement.
Photos: supplied by Barry Denholm
