Jenan Taylor
14 June 2023
Two members of St George’s Red Hill have been recognised for their community service in the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours.
Margaret and Tim Kendall were awarded with Medals of the Order of Australia for their exceptional service to the Mornington Peninsula community.
The couple has been worshipping at St George’s since they married and moved to the area in the mid-1970s, and usually worked as a team.
They’ve volunteered at a range of community organisations, including Vinnies Kitchen and Second Bite, for more than 10 years.
Read more: ‘Exemplary’ Anglican recognised in King’s Birthday Honours List
Mrs Kendall has also participated multiple times in a local initiative to support people who sleep rough in their cars, while Mr Kendall was the former president of the Red Hill Agriculture Show Society.
But Mr Kendall said the Mornington Community Support Centre was where they’d poured most of their energy for the past eight years.
After their Second Bite delivery shift on Thursdays, the pair don aprons at the Mornington Community Support Centre’s cafe.
There Mr Kendall does the dishes and Mrs Kendall flits between tables, helping to serve up meals and chatting with people in need who stop by for food and fellowship.
Mrs Kendall said they were most inspired by the example set by Hong Kong-based Christian organisation, the Crossroads Foundation.
The organisers did whatever they could to help others and relied only on their faith to get by, she said.
Read more: Melbourne bishop named on King’s Birthday Honours List
But church has also been at the centre of life for the Kendalls.
St George’s vicar the Reverend Fiona Goy said the couple was a bundle of energy, and heavily involved in social justice issues and fund-raising for the church and wider community.
“Margaret is a mad jam-maker, and her jams go into fundraising for all manner of things, including for survivors of the recent earthquake in Syria and Türkiye,” Ms Goy said.
Mrs Kendall said making jam was a handy way to use up whatever bruised and unwanted fruit was leftover from their food delivery duties.
It also happened to fit with her overall outlook, she said.
“Don’t waste anything because there is always someone who needs something.”
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