The Good Samaritan Foundation brings together people and resources to support the works and initiatives of the Good Samaritan Sisters to assist those in need in communities across Australia and the Pacific.
By Debra Vermeer
The Foundation’s Executive Director, Sonya Mears said, “As we come to the end of the year, I’m reminded once again of the power of the Good Sams community.
“Across Australia, the Philippines, Kiribati and Timor Leste, our community’s kindness reached women, children and families who rely on the stability and compassion that our Good Samaritan ministries provide.”
Sonya said this year brought many moments to celebrate.
“We celebrated students graduating, women securing new work skills, families having access to the food they need to stay energised and healthy, and children beginning their learning journeys with optimism and confidence,” she said.
Donations to the Foundation’s Philippines Emergency Appeal have provided food relief to families in Bacolod.
“We also faced unexpected moments of deep challenge, most recently the devastation of Typhoon Kalmaegi, known locally as ‘Tino’, in the Philippines. In these most difficult of days, our donors’ support meant that Filipino families could rebuild their homes and look forward to returning to their everyday lives.”
Sonya said that across all of the Foundation’s programs, there was a continued emphasis on strengthening the pathways that lead to safety, education, nourishment and independence.
“The Good Sams Foundation is ending the year with gratitude, a belief in the transformative power of kindness and a resolve to bring compassion into action,” she said.
The Foundation has released an Invitation to Advent Prayers – a series of four videos, produced as a community collaboration, bringing together Good Samaritan Sisters Elizabeth Brennan and Bernadette Corboy, teachers, staff and students from St Scholastica’s College in Glebe, and the team at the Good Samaritan Foundation.
“Across December, we’ll light a candle and share a weekly prayer to shine a light on four key themes of Advent,” Sonya said.
“May the 2025 Advent season be one of peace, hope and blessing for you and those you love.”
The Good Samaritan Inn
Christmas at the Good Samaritan Inn.
The Good Samaritan Inn in Melbourne helps women, young people and children experiencing family violence.
This year, The Inn has provided short-term case management support for between 60 and 70 women, gender diverse and non-binary people, children and young people. Guests are provided with a bed, meals, crisis support, counselling, group therapy and referral to other specialist services as required.
Newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Jemma Mead said 2025 also saw the opening of a new residential offering, the Good Samaritan Haven, which will accommodate its guests for up to 12 months.
Guests will be supported by a full suite of services focused on healing from the trauma of violence and abuse as well as building skills and creating pathways into training and employment. There will be a particular focus on supporting First Nations and non-permanent resident women.
Jemma said planning was underway for a third facility that would further increase capacity to provide crisis accommodation. To be known as the Good Samaritan Village, is expected to open in late 2027.
“We’re hoping to have two or three families into The Haven by Christmas, and the rest will move in in January,” Jemma said. “We really want to build the community and have a feeling of families supporting one another.”
Jemma said it would be a special Christmas for those families moving in, as they continue their recovery from living with family violence.
“We’ll be having Christmas festivities and lunch provided at The Haven,” she said. “We also have Christmas lunch provided at The Inn, thanks to a dedicated volunteer who comes in each year to cook lunch for everybody.
“I’ll be popping into both services to spend time with families, and there will be hampers and presents for all the kids, so it’s a really special time for us and our residents.”
The Good Samaritan Inn has launched a Christmas fundraising appeal to help support the operations of The Inn and The Haven. Donations over $2 are tax deductible in Australia.
Looking ahead to the new year, Jemma said preparatory work was well underway for construction of the Good Samaritan Village, with demolition of existing houses on the site due to commence in January.
“A lot of work has gone into the design this year and we’ll be working hard towards its opening in 2027,” she said.
Railaco in East Timor
A student in Railaco prepares for Christmas. Image: NOSSEF.
The Good Samaritan Foundation provides education scholarships for more than 120 children and young people in the developing nation of Timor Leste.
Father Hyoe Murayama SJ is the Principal of NOSSEF Catholic Secondary School in Railaco, where a number of students receive scholarships each year. He said that Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year theme of Pilgrims of Hope had a special resonance for the people of Timor-Leste.
“Hope is something difficult to imagine in these times of change. Not only in so-called first-world countries, but also in a developing country like Timor-Leste,” he said. “Due to climate change, the uncontrolled use and uncontrollable spread of digital media, everyone is losing their sense of common home, community and family.”
Fr Hyoe said the theme of the students’ last recollection day was ‘treasured memories’.
“Our students shared with us very simple and intimate memories of their families from the past,” he said. “They had meals together as a family, without scrolling and watching their phones. They went to the farm together to clear the pasture and harvest the fruit, without worrying about time and costs.
“No one talked about Christmas presents. Our students know that family is the gift itself, their most cherished memories in which Christ was born.”
This year, the Railaco school had 39 scholarship students funded by the Good Samaritan Foundation.
“They have hope for the future, that one day, upon completing high school, they will be able to make their families happy,” Fr Hyoe said.
Naren Jeremias Alves de Araugo Lemos, a former student of Railaco school who is now studying at university on a Good Samaritan Scholarship, said he was thankful for the support he had received.
“I am very appreciative of their kindness and generosity, which lightened my study in terms of finances, making it possible to finish my education,” Naren said.
He said the scholarship funds help with tuition fees, online research, purchasing notebooks and accommodation.
Naren said that his Christmas celebrations will be spent at home with his family “with joy and with a heart of gratitude, waiting hopefully for the New Year”.
“I take this moment to express my Christmas joy to the Sisters of the Good Samaritan family, wishing you all the joy and peace of the season.”
University student Ana Paul Mesquita do Rego said the scholarship motivated her to learn because she knows there are people supporting her efforts.
“Because of this scholarship, I can participate more in class, do research and gain new experiences that will help me in the future. It has brought a big change in my life by giving me hope and a way to achieve my goals,” she said.
For Ana, Christmas will be “simple and meaningful”, having fun with her family, preparing traditional food, and singing songs together.
Fr Hyoe said the support from the Good Samaritan Foundation brought peace of mind and hope for his students and their families.
“’God gives burdens; also shoulders’. Scholarships are like shoulders that lighten their burdens and teach them hope and solidarity. God is with us (Matthew 1:23), and hope does not disappoint (Romans 5:5),” he said.
“From Railaco we wish you a joyous Christmas.”
Bacolod, the Philippines
The eco-park in Bacolod.
Good Samaritan Sisters have lived in the city of Bacolod in the Philippines for more than 30 years. The Sisters’ first ministry was the establishment of a Kinder School to serve the poor families in the local community of Holy Family Parish.
In 2014, they established an Outreach Center to reach out to the many poor families in the city of Bacolod and in the wider communities of Negros Island.
The year began with the launch in February of a new social enterprise, the Good Samaritan Community Kitchen, an initiative of the Outreach Center.
Good Samaritan Sister Grace Marcelo said the aim was to create sustainable income-generating opportunities through the Center’s food business, fostering community growth and resilience.
The Sisters in Bacolod have also been partnering with local and Australian groups to put in place a raft of practical initiatives aimed at supporting ecological advances in their neighbourhood.
These included an eco-park with play equipment built by members of an Immersion Group from St Christopher’s Parish, Syndal, in Melbourne; a project, to install solar lighting in the homes of more than 120 Good Samaritan Scholars; and a collaboration with the Subay Recycling Movement to establish a recycling drop-off area at the eco-park and encourage families to segregate their rubbish for collection and repurposing as furniture and garden products.
Despite these highlights, the year has finished in challenging circumstances, with three typhoons battering Negros Island. The local squatter communities in Taculing, Boulevard and indeed the whole of Bacolod were particularly impacted by Typhoon Kalmaegi, known locally as ‘Tino’, and Typhoon Fung-wong, known locally as ‘Uwan’.
In Boulevard, where many Good Samaritan Scholarship students, staff and families supported through the Foundation’s nutrition program live, homes were destroyed and large sections of the community were washed away.
The Good Samaritan Foundation launched an Emergency Relief Appeal to help provide shelter materials, meals and assistance to rebuild homes, which to date has raised more than $140,000.
Good Samaritan Sister Anne Dixon said the people’s hearts were filled with gratitude.
“From the depths of their hearts, they are grateful and quite overwhelmed by the amount of generous support they are receiving, whether it is food packs (3181), health kits (1320), water (hundreds of litres), or building materials,” she said.
“To date, 584 families have been supported to purchase pieces of corrugated iron, bamboo and plywood. The list goes on, and the gratefulness grows each day.”
Despite the devastation to people’s homes and livelihoods, Anne said the Christmas spirit would still be strong in Bacolod this year.
“We’ve been collecting items for Christmas gifts all year and have received donations as well,” she said. “Santa Claus will make his first visit back to Boulevard since before COVID-19, to bring Christmas joy to the children and their families.”
Faith is important in Bacolod and for the nine days before Christmas Eve many people attend early Mass to prepare themselves for the feast of Jesus’ birth.
“Mass on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day is followed by a very simple Christmas dinner made from the food packs we give out,” Anne said.
The Sisters will join the Christmas Eve Mass and gather afterwards for supper and to exchange gifts.
Kiribati
Sister Tokarerei Matiera SGS sings the Suscipe. Image: Diocese of Tarawa and Nauru.
Two communities of Good Samaritan Sisters are engaged in educational, pastoral and community development ministries in the Pacific nation of Kiribati.
Sister Taabeia Ibouri said this year had been a busy one, with almost all the Sisters being involved in study as well as their ministries.
“We had two significant occasions this year,” she said. “We celebrated Sister Ameria’s 25th Silver Jubilee in May. And with great joy, we welcomed our new Sister into our Kiribati Area, Sister Tokarerei Matiera, who made her first profession of vows in July.
“It was not just about celebrating these occasions, but about the joy, gratefulness and connection that they brought to our two communities – families, friends and parishioners.”
The Sisters have enjoyed welcoming visitors throughout the year and sharing their local culture and ministry.
“We love welcoming our Sisters from Australia and the Philippines and, of course, the support we received from our Sisters in Japan. It is always a joy to welcome them to our home country,” Taabeia said.
This year saw the first visit to Kiribati from Good Samaritan Foundation Executive Director Sonya Mears, who said her trip provided valuable insights into the people and the culture and paved the way for the Foundation to help fund two projects to help support the community.
The first project was raising awareness for the Sisters’ new outreach centre at Temaiku, South Tarawa.
The second was raising funds to provide playground equipment and learning aids for the Sisters’ early learning centre in Abaokoro village, North Tarawa, which she said would be important educational building blocks for the pre-schoolers living on the island.
Meanwhile, Taabeia said there was much to look forward to at Christmas. “Every year the Sisters look forward with excitement to our Christmas ministry in the places that are special to us,” she said.
“This year, we will begin from 14-20 December. The places where we will be doing our carol singing, celebrating birthdays, learning sign language, and many other activities are: Betio and Nawerewere Hospitals, the prisons at Betio and Bairiki, the Mental Health Ward, and the Faith and Light group for people with disability and their families.”
The ministries of the Sisters are supported by the Good Samaritan Foundation. Donations over $2 are tax deductible in Australia and can be made via the website.
This article was published in the December 2025 edition of The Good Oil.
