OUR MISSION
We, Ebenezer Mission, believe in the Trinity (God the Father, the Son – Jesus, the Holy Spirit in One). Our ultimate mission is to serve and empower children, youth and adults with disability according to the Bible’s teachings of loving our neighbours as ourselves. We focus on loving and supporting people with disability in our community by applying a person centred approach to our services.
As a part of our mission, we firmly believe in empowering and equipping people with disability to be active participants in a society without barriers. We support children, youth, adults and senior citizen (predominantly from ages 2 to 70) with severe disabilities, regardless of background, religion or denomination. We provide programs that meet their needs, and which promote community and societal inclusion through music, arts and various other activities. We strive to develop individuals’ gifts and talents without fear of stigma. We recognise the value of listening and empathising with our clients through their joys and difficulties, and through our persistent efforts and prayer we hope to make our core motives a reality.
OUR CLIENTS
Ebenezer supports people with disability. Most of our clients suffer from a mild-severe degree of permanent disability that require 24/7 supervision & care.The spectrum of disabilities include: Intellectual Disability, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Eye Impairment, Physical disability from work accidents; and other health related disabilities. Most of these people are unable to live an independent life and require constant supervision.
People with disability remain among one of the most marginalised groups in our society. This makes it difficult for people to expand beyond the boundaries of their homes and centres, leaving some people feeling purposeless, neglected, and more subject to discrimination. We realise that even today, our society falls short in facilitating people with disability. We want to close this gap. This is the motivation behind many of our unique and innovative services, each of which are carefully chosen and curated for the benefit and wellbeing of our participants. Ebenezer recognises the needs of people with disability such as: the accessibility of welfare centres, health care establishments; infrastructure support; access to health care professionals, educational and vocational opportunities; social inclusion, psychological and social support; monetary constraints; and general quality of life. These factors must be regarded as a priority in our society, and are important factors of consideration that guide the direction of our services as a registered NDIS service provider.
Our Beginnings
EBENEZER MISSION BEGAN IN 2001 AS A YOUTH ORCHESTRA AND CHOIR (PREVIOUSLY ALSO KNOWN AS ‘EBENEZER CHRISTIAN YOUTH ORCHESTRA; CHOIR’) WITH ACTIVITIES INCLUDING MUSICAL CAMPS AND VARIOUS MUSIC PERFORMANCES. FROM THE BEGINNING, EBENEZER MISSION FORMED MUSIC GROUPS COMPRISED OF BOTH CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT DISABILITY.
Ebenezer Mission continued to grow, and in 2009, we established our first official centre in Burwood which allowed us to provide more opportunities to a larger number of children and youth with disabilities. Our growth in the more recent years has also allowed us to, in 2018, expand to an additional centre located in Rhodes in 2018, with the addition of numerous music programs and community activities offered to children and youth with disabilities. In a further effort to provide services to greater number of children and youth with disabilities, in 2016, Ebenezer became one of the first Duke of Edinburgh (Duke of Ed) Award Units to connect people with disability in our community to this award program, alongside other participants.
In 2017, we officially became a registered National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) service provider approved by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). Being a registered NDIS provider has meant that our capacity to offer a variety of different services to those with disabilities has increased. Given our growth, we have been able to expand our services, such as: a clinic (speech pathology, psychology, exercise physiology, music and art therapy etc.); support workers from various backgrounds including psychology, disability, aged care etc.; job training and opportunities (including a home café, gardening, furniture restoration, second-hand shop); and musical activities.
We work with other organisations, clinicians and other professionals to offer person-centred services and support for our participants.
EBENEZER TODAY
In the present day, we work passionately towards improving and growing our organisation to continue making meaningful contributions to the lives of those living with disability. Our aim is to be a trustworthy and reliable organisation where people with disability feel truly supported, connected and empowered through our services: Disability-relief services (mainly, NDIS approved programs); and Social enterprise projects: encouraging social inclusion for people with disability by building opportunities for interaction with the wider society, such as building choirs and other music groups enabling participation by people both with and without disability; and securing financial sustainability of Ebenezer Mission.
