07/06/2017
This is my story about how my venture with the homeless all started. ### Love you to read ### 😇😇😇
For about 3 years I would drive down Hamilton Avenue past the Anglican Church, to take my daughter to school. As we drove past I would look at the untidy thin bodies smoking and think, “look at those poor people” and continued to drive past at the same time with the same thought each and every day. It wasn’t until my daughter ask me “what are those people doing standing there, Mummy?” I realised I had watched them for 3 years without doing anything.
I desperately wanted to help but didn’t know how.
It wasn’t until I read a newspaper article in the Gold Coast Bulletin stating that, there are over 4000 homeless people on your streets. That really hit a nerve for me. I had already started to evaluate my life with a personal and professional training program and wanted more out of life. I questioned myself on why I hadn’t taken action before. What was holding me back from contributing? and could I make a difference?
The first day I approach the church with a bag of food from my fridge. I was shaking as I had not approached homeless people before or been inside a church for a long time. A lovely lady approached me, who I now see there regularly, and asked me who was I looking for. She directed me to Dianne the administration officer up the stairs. I climbed the stairs with anticipation. I think Dianne could see the commitment in my eyes as we spoke and my eyes welled up as she told me what they do for our community.
After a tour of the centre I quickly learnt that they played a VERY integral role within our community. The St. John’s Crisis Centre has a welfare office, a pantry with canned and dry food the the homeless, clothing, blankets and showers with toiletries for them to use. They see anywhere from 20-70 people in-need each day and feed them a 3 course meal 6 days a week. Their operation is simply phenomenal and so are the staff and volunteers.
Dianne explained all the services they do for the homeless and that they needed a beauty therapist to tidy up the women to help them feel good and reclaim their dignity. I was in!
Soon after this experience, Help Direct Foundation was born. The past 7 months have been some of the best moments of my life, seeing friends and sponsors coming together to contribute their time to our fellow people in our community has be nothing short of a miracle inside of me.
We now have a monthly event at the Crisis Centre. It takes place on the last Wednesday of every month. Jules is responsible for hair, Ned playing the guitar, Kristine & Candy making nutritional shakes, Tony pouring fresh coffee & cake and myself grooming the women. We source a sponsor for the burgers each month. We have had Boom Boom Burgers, Moo Moo’s and Cav’s steakhouse come on board and pay it forward. We are very appreciative of these sponsors and their generous donations.
HDF’s vision for the future and technology is: anyone in-need; from a homeless person to someone struggling with a bill, Help Direct Foundation’s platform will be a peer to peer connection for people to assist each other.
Written by Odette Humphreys - Help Direct Foundation
