All the activity up at the Presbyterian Hall over the past week or two is thanks to a volunteer mob of helpers who are part of Mobile Mission Maintenance.
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The hall is receiving a fresh exterior coat of paint, windows have been fixed and can now operate, and guttering and downpipes have been replaced.
Crew members have come from Ballina, Sydney and the Central Coast to lend the effort, camping in the church grounds and enjoying the catering contributions of the local congregation.
“And country women are the best cooks,” team leader and Sydneyite Phil Hall said.
The mission maintains a website which receives requests from churches for assistance. These are vetted by a committee and, if the request meets the criteria, a team leader is allocated and the job is posted on the website with its details.
Anyone interested then indicates their availability and the team is built from that. Mr Hall said most of the volunteers are self-funded retirees, although others with work commitments participate in jobs that fall in their holidays.
Some come with trades experience, but the crew in Tenterfield included teachers, a property developer, an academic and a real estate agent, as well as a carpenter.
“It’s a Christian organisation of Christian people, and we love doing things for others,” Mr Hall said.
They bring their own accomodation in the form of caravans as well as the free labour, and the church supplies the necessary materials.
As jobs go Mr Hall said the hall is not the worst he’s seen, and the congregation members had done some preparation by cleaning down the areas to be painted with a pressure sprayer.
Although the hall’s roof needs attention, Mr Hall said workplace health and safety conditions mean they can’t go topside as they don’t have the necessary harnesses.
Mobile Mission Maintenance hopes to return in six months or so to paint the historic church itself once renovation work is completed.
Until then, however, Mr Hall and wife Gwen are next heading to Port Stephens to help out at Tahle Bible College. The mission knows no borders with volunteer work also taking the Halls to Tasmania, the Kimberleys and other Western Australian sites, and into Queensland.
They get to see a lot of the country, but Mr Hall said he does it for the thrill, enjoyment and pleasure, and to see the gratitude in the people they’ve helped.
