Sharing Hope in Crisis

John and Julie Reading of Taree step into communities devastated by disasters. As Billy Graham Rapid Response Team Chaplains they've been on the frontline to support people in the wake of numerous Australian bushfires, floods and a mass shooting in America.

Up From The Ashes, Hope Will Arise

Radio silence alerted RHEMA FM Manning-Great Lakes station manager, Mark Spencer to the devastating impact of bushfires in Killabakh in November 2019. With the transmitter hut melted, Mark reveals that it was song lyrics which comforted him during the challenging seven weeks to get back on air.

Creativity Key to Connection

Listening to people wrestle with the enormity of their losses in the 2019 bushfires impacted Jenny Hanslow. The crisis compelled her to creatively process her emotions with art, and it is a choice the Zenos Media co-founder hopes to encourage in our community.

Growing Marty's Garden

Marty Ware is a horticulturalist who is growing a 26,000-plus YouTube subscriber audience from his North Haven home. The video-sharing platform hosts more than 600 of his gardening tutorials, and in the aftermath of the bushfires, he is hoping people will want to learn how to boost biodiversity in their backyard to help the birds and bees.

A Time Of Grace

Father Peter and Fiona Tinney rallied to comfort people in the aftermath of the devastating 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria. Ten years on as bushfires on the Mid North Coast razed homes to the ground, and forced people to flee their properties, they again rallied to team with other organisations to set up Taree Evacuation Centre.

Gifting a Hand Up, Not a Hand Out

The Vinnies cap sits comfortably on Vince Ryan. The Regional President for Vinnies is intimately involved in helping the growing number of people in the Manning and Great Lakes who need a hand up, not a hand out, to pay their bills, put food on the table, and feel a sense of hope.

Name A Cow

Hereford cow 422 at Linga Longa Farm in Wingham is ‘Grace’ – named for 16-year-old Grace McCallum of Tinonee for her gift of $20 a week to buy feed during the drought. The St Clare’s High School captain is now urging people to support the ‘Name A Cow’ sponsorship program set up by farm owners, Greg and Lauren Newell.

Packed With Love

Shirley Greber smiles as she works small stitches into elastic to finish a waistband in shorts for a young child. It is a labour of love for the 80-year-old Wingham woman who is inspiring others to join her support of Operation Christmas Child.

All 4 Kids


Di Edwards sits to sew in a room packed with piles of fabrics, and crates loaded with ribbons, buttons, zippers and yarn. It is her craft room in Pampoolah and ground zero for 'All 4 Kids' - her initiative to provide handcrafted items to assist kids of all ages, from newborn to the elderly.

The Cross Of Comfort

Slabs of cedar and lengths of silky oak and camphor laurel sit stacked in sawdust. Alan Cross smiles as he surveys the massive shed that is packed with timber and tools collected over a lifetime; nothing is wasted, and in his experienced hands timber off cuts are being transformed to create a symbol of love for people in palliative care.

Helping Our Homeless

Blunt razors, frayed toothbrushes, no toothpaste, shaving cream, deodorant or shampoo, and threadbare towels. Orange Sky volunteers hear of this reality from homeless people on the Mid North Coast, and so Coopernook Pop Up Op Shop decided to help.

A Call To ReachOut

Jenni Alley is a woman who embraces challenges and makes choices that enable her to connect with diverse cultures and communities. She is leading a team of people to bring Manning Valley ReachOut to Taree and it is her hope that it will be a catalyst for people of faith to step outside of their comfort zone.

Art & Soul

Ron Irwin loves a good yarn and a good laugh. Art & Soul gifts him both as he sits in St Matthew's Anglican Church Fellowship Hall with a canvas, brush and palette of paint - art is created and his soul embraces a lightness of being that lifts the darkness of living with post traumatic stress disorder and depression.

Hope Beyond Cure

Two words devastated David McDonald. Tumor and incurable. Stage 4 lung cancer and its brutal chemotherapy regime plunged his body into a toxic war to live, and his mind on a quest for hope. His journey is shared in 'Hope Beyond Cure' and he is visiting Wingham to reveal what he learned about life, faith and hope.