75 years of bringing hope to displaced families

For 75 years, church communities have been uniting through the Christmas Bowl Appeal to give hope to families who are displaced.

In 1949 Rev. Frank Byatt first laid a bowl of remembrance on the Christmas dinner table asking his family to ‘share your good dinner with hungry children in other lands’. The Christmas Bowl appeal was born.

The Christmas Bowl legacy runs deep – in families, across generations, cultures, denominations and nations – countless lives have been changed and bridges of solidarity built.

Queensland resident, Clive Ayre, has been supporting the Christmas Bowl since the 1960s.

He started as a young Methodist minister in 1961 and began promoting the Christmas Bowl in his local community when he was 21.

Clive and his wife Gail have been loyal Christmas Bowl supporters ever since and believe the appeal plays an important role in building bridges.

“It means the opportunity to extend not only a helping hand, but a hand of friendship,” says Clive. “It’s about breaking down walls…and building bridges of understanding between people, between ethnic groups, between faiths.”

“I think that the world would be a much better place if we could find areas of agreement or commonality rather than looking for differences.”

“[Christmas Bowl] is an important part of this whole effort to care, to reach out, to bring people together and to make sure that that people don't suffer unnecessarily.”

Across oceans, families like Clive’s have been providing much-needed support for families displaced by conflict and disaster.

Families like Jane’s* in Zimbabwe.

When Cyclone Idai hit in 2019, Jane lost everything.

“The cyclone started around 8pm when I was asleep with the children in the house,” says Jane.

“I woke up to find the house shaking and about to collapse. I was taken up with the water. I fractured my skull and hurt my leg.”

Jane lost her three children in the cyclone. She spent two years living in a tent after the disaster and was one of 700 displaced families who required relocation.

For 75 years, generous families like Clive's have been helping families like Jane’s to rebuild their lives.

Thanks to Christmas Bowl supporters, Act for Peace’s partner the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) could improve services like electricity, water, schools, health clinics and sanitation and hygiene for relocated families.

Please join us in praying and acting for peace in the world as we celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the Christmas Bowl. Please give today, visit christmasbowl.actforpeace.org.au