Presbyterian moderator heaps praise on those in charge of church care homes

​Dr Gribben was speaking at an anniversary event for residents, families and friends, and current and former staff, who had come together to mark the 30th anniversary of the opening of the residential care home for people with profound learning disability.

The "good people", the moderator referred to, were original members of the Currie Community who opened Aaron House in 1995 and managed it until 2009, when it was transferred to the Presbyterian Church.

Currently, the church’s Presbyterian council for social wiitness, the church's social care department, manages Aaron House in partnership with Choice Housing, which maintains the building.

The church council also manages the denomination’s residential, nursing, supported housing, respite and day care provision, along with a number of community-based programmes.

Home to 15 residents, including several who moved there 30 years ago, Aaron House also supports up to 10 people in its day care centre, and has one room available for respite care.

Speaking at the event, Dr Gribben said: “If it had not been for the vision and dedication of a small group of parents and supporters in the Currie Community and the first committee that established this place, we would not be here today - Aaron House is a special place.

"It was badly needed then and it is still needed today, and I must thank the original members of the Currie Community for pursuing Aaron Currie’s vision, and for having the confidence in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to pass the baton to us when the time came.”

The moderator added: “People matter to God, all people matter to God, and it is places like Aaron House that prove that, and they make a huge difference in the lives of many.

"That would not be possible without the care, dedication and professionalism of everyone working here, and the social witness team in Presbyterian Assembly Buildings in Belfast."

Present at the anniversary event was Dermot Parsons, Presbyterian council for social witness secretary, who, with moderator Gribben, praised staff who care for residents at the home.

“We are blessed with an incredibly dedicated team of individuals, some of whom have been here since the home opened, with many others working here for 10 or 15 years.

“At Aaron House, and all our homes and community-based programmes that we manage across the church, we put our faith into practical action as an example of simple Christian caring.

“This is a powerful social witness of the gospel as we seek to provide care within a specifically Christian ethos.

"It is about providing a safe, caring, and comfortable environment for those we look after. You do not need to be a Christian to work for us, or to live here. All we are doing is demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ,” said Mr Parsons.

While the event marked the 30th anniversary of the opening of Aaron House, work began 10 years before, when Lesley Anderson, of the Currie Community Committee approached the Northern Ireland Housing Association (now Choice Housing) with a proposition to open a home for adults with special needs in that part of East Belfast.

Mrs Anderson said: “Aaron House is named after the late Aaron Currie MBE, who was a swimming coach for children and adults with a learning disability. During those years I got to know him well and he shared his dream with me. It was to have somewhere that ‘his people’, as he called them, had somewhere to call home, somewhere safe in a community of their own without people staring and pointing, as people often did in those days,”

When Mr Currie died, Mrs Anderson told her Methodist minister father, Rev William Hamilton, that she would take Mr Currie’s dream on and open a home. Rev Hamilton became the first chairman of the Currie Community committee, which, Mrs Anderson said, operated from 1983.