JRS hosts another smash Winter Ball

It was – to borrow the words of one guest – the “the party-to-end-all-parties”. The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Winter Solstice Ball was again a smash hit, remembering the 38 million refugees and forcibly displaced people living in tragic poverty. And the night began with a bang – rock band Evermore entertaining the 420 guests. Young people – many of whom are graduates of St. Aloysius and Riverview – come back year-after-year not just to see old friends and hit the dance floor. They return knowing the answer to human misery is action, not despair. For those who came to this year’s JRS Ball, at Darling Harbour last Saturday June 21st, it was not a matter of whether we want to be involved in the ethical challenges of global poverty and the plight of refugees. Rather, rather we left with a deep sense of questioning what the depth of our own contribution will be. All of us know simply being at the JRS Winter Solstice Ball is contributing, less through the thousands of dollars raised, and more through seeing the measure of our worth in the wider context of international justice and humanity. Our Master of Ceremonies, Channel Nine Newsreader Michael Usher, reminded us the night was about pausing to reflect on those whose lives are a daily struggle at the same time acknowledging the splendid work of JRS spanning 28 years. The head of the JRS Australia, Fr David Holdcroft SJ, kept us informed of current projects. All of us were moved watching snapshots from throughout the world of JRS volunteers at work; fulfilling a mission to accompany, serve and defend the rights of refugees and forcibly displaced people. Helping us consciously recognise that each refugee and asylum seeker is not just a mere statistic – but a fellow human being – was this year’s Guest of Honour, 2004 Young Australian of the Year, Hugh Evans. He spoke movingly about his work with refugees during the Boxing Day tsunami and how refugees, too, are instilled with human value. Money raised on the night is being funnelled to our asylum seeker homeless shelter project in Sydney’s King Cross as well as to a JRS project in Kenya. The JRS Winter Solstice Ball can hardly be claimed as a "big victory" in helping alleviate the human misery of refugees, but we know that simply engaging in the struggle is itself worth doing. And bringing that struggle to an end is not impossible. It requires a global revolution in thinking and practice, particularly in affluent countries like Australia. The challenge is not an easy one. But those of us attending the JRS Ball each year know it can be achieved, and know what a real party that would be!