Murray Edridge, Wellington City Missioner, entertained us with humour and breath-taking drive as he outlined his purpose to address problems that many with physical and mental health issues face in our city when he addressed the Club on 13 July. From a family with a Dad as a Rotarian, Murray has known service for most of his life.

Life is hard for many people and the capital city bears this out every day. Murray says it is a constant challenge. What responsibility do we take for this? How do we respond? He is the first non -cleric leader of the Wellington City Mission, but his associates believe he has all traits of his predecessors, personality, passion and empathy to those calling on the help of the City Mission.

Murray said City Missions are changing and moving to reflect society of today. He said his three main goals are empowerment, transformation and fullness of life. He traversed key issues faced in Wellington – housing, debt, food insecurity, social isolation, physical and mental health conditions, family and relationship problems, and child welfare.

The Club was especially interested in the steps taken recently by Murray and the board of the City Mission to open a social supermarket in Newtown for the food needs of their clients. This was in keeping with their key objectives to try and make a difference to lives that everyone has a right, and others can help achieve that. We could have listened to Murray for hours. The Club will surely offer its future help when called on by Murray to take these initiatives forward in the City.