Father-son duo’s tradition brings joy to homeless
Middle school teacher Glennie says her son has learned important lessons about kindness and understanding through Christmas traditions. Conversations with people struggling with poverty are especially meaningful, she says. This year, there were “pearls of wisdom” from a grateful recipient who urged Jackson to always listen to his father.
“It brings tears to my eyes every year,” says Glennie. “I’m choking up talking about this right now. It’s very important to me that my child experiences things like this and grows up as someone who looks beyond the appearance of the people he passes on the street.”
A measure of homelessness, “List by name‘, which keeps a record of everyone rough sleeping in a community contacted by support services, found there were 180 people experiencing some form of homelessness in the city of Melbourne in October.
Father and son distributed hundreds of dollars, including toiletries, clothes and chargers. Credit: Simon Schluter
Glennie also has a five-year-old daughter who is keen to join her dad and brother on the Christmas Day parcel delivery. He expects it to be ready next year.
Glennie and her son spend months preparing for their Christmas Day trip. He says it provides an opportunity to talk about the importance of kindness and compassion.
“It doesn’t matter what you do for a job. Those should be the true measure of success. I want my children to grow up to be emotionally successful.”
Jackson has to wait until he’s done with his morning work before heading home to buy his own gifts. But Glennie says opening gifts takes on new meaning after spending the morning playing a small part in alleviating disadvantage.
“When you start with sobering moments, everything becomes a little more enjoyable afterward.”
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