Generally speaking, Aleks' partner in slime in sticky situation
Generally speaking, Aleks' partner in slime in sticky situation
17 June 2021
General Brian Peddle, the world leader of The Salvation Army, has never found himself in a more sticky situation, but his wife, Commissioner Rosalie Peddle, is happy to put him there – for the sake of the grandkids.
Kermit the Frog famously said, “It’s not easy being green”, and the world leader of The Salvation Army can now attest to that, having had to go through a sticky situation unlikely to be repeated during his leadership tenure.
The situation was nothing to do with the day-to-day running of the international Christian movement that is the Army but part of an innovative fundraiser for this year’s Red Shield Appeal.
Being in the position he is in, General Brian Peddle always needs to choose his words carefully and wisely but, for a brief moment may have regretted always saying he would do “anything” for his grandchildren.
Keeping it in the family: Aleks Andrews and sister Kheri get to slime mum and dad, Carindale Corps Officers Majors Tim and Krista Andrews.
Carindale Corps in Brisbane came up with some innovative ways to raise money for this year’s Red Shield Appeal, including a special challenge for the children.
The children were encouraged to choose an adult partner, whether that be their prayer pal, mentor, family member or significant other person in their life, to join them in the challenge and then set up a Red Shield Appeal online donation page.
The aim for each child was to raise $300 each towards the appeal. If the child failed to raise the $300, the adult partner could pour a container of green slime over them. If they passed the target, the reverse happened: the child could slime the adult.
That was all well and good except young Aleks Andrews chose a fairly prominent partner – his grandfather, who happens to be General Peddle, the international leader of the Army. Whoa!
While the other children had $300 as their target, Aleks’ was significantly higher: $1000.
Corps Officer Major Krista Andrews said the General indicated to Aleks that the stakes needed to be significantly higher for him to be part of the challenge, so they agreed on $1000.
“I’m not doing it for 300 bucks,” Krista said the General said.
That target appeared unreachable almost to the last day before the challenge ended. With a few dollars to go to pass the $1000 mark, both partners were a little nervous. In the end, last-minute donations – which came from all over the world – took Aleks across the line, and General Peddle was placed firmly in his crosshairs.
So, on Sunday 13 June, Carindale Corps members gathered after the morning worship service for what could be called ‘Slime and Shave Sunday’.
Krista said each child reached their target as only adults were slimed in the special segment held after the Sunday worship.
She said the time had extra significance as it was the first time since COVID-19 hit Australia last year that the corps had been able to meet together for the usual morning tea following the service. Most of the congregation stayed for the morning tea, sliming and shaving.
A bonus for Aleks, as an extra incentive to the children, not only would they get to slime their partner if they achieved their goal if they raised the most as part of the challenge, they got to slime the corps officers. Not only did Aleks get to slime Pop, but also Mum and Dad (which he shared with his sister, Kheri)! Whoa!
In all, about 20 litres of the green sludge was used – including the packet the corps mailed to the General in London.
Because the General is in London and Aleks in Brisbane, he couldn’t actually slime his grandfather live so, with glee, Commissioner Rosalie Peddle gladly deputised for him and slowly poured the slime to prolong the moment. Due to the time difference between Brisbane and London, it was all recorded and showed to the congregation on the day the other sliming took place.
Along with all the sliming going on, there was another part of the corps appeal fundraising program.
Before and after ... bearded and bald: Carindale Corps Officer Major Tim Andrews ... slimed and shaven.
Krista and her husband Tim had their own thing going on.
What began as a plan to grow a beard and his hair while working toward a weight-loss goal, Tim’s facial growth became a prickly issue.
Krista doesn’t like beards, generally speaking, but for her husband to be wearing one, that was unacceptable, so the pair dreamt up a scheme to involve their faith community – and friends and family and anyone else interested – in another fundraiser for the appeal.
People were invited to go online to the corps appeal page to donate and vote for the beard to ‘stay’ or ‘go’ in the comments field. If the ‘stay’ vote count finished on top by the challenge deadline, Tim could keep it until his weight goal was achieved. If the ‘go’ vote won, it was to be shaved off when the sliming happened.
The ‘go’ campaigners – again, from all over the world – donated the most, so Tim had his beard and locks professionally shaved off by hairdresser Sandra Davie, who is part of the corps. Carindale’s Cadet-in-appointment Peter Hardy also grew his beard for the challenge but has decided to keep his.
Tim said he managed to raise another $1200 on the day by auctioning off his hair.
Tim said the whole experience was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed the friendly rivalry the challenges created.
He said the corps had raised about $35,000 for this year’s appeal, which was significantly more than the past two years, especially with the effect COVID-19 restrictions had on collecting in public, specifically doorknocking.
With the experience of the past two years, Tim and Krista said Army mission expressions needed to be more innovative in the way they raised money from now on: “It needs to be a combination of the in-person and the digital. It’s not all about collections. It’s about connections,” Tim said.
For the General, though, while there was a smile on his face when Commissioner Peddle poured the slime over him, other thoughts were going through his mind.
As the remaining drops of the green goo trickled down the General’s face, his final words were: “Aleks is going to pay!”
Comments
he is a great guy he interact with people it shows you can be a christianand and happy somepeople think christian is all doom and gloom God Bless 🙏🙏