Our Guests:                 Rtns Bronwyn Kenny. Janet Rice and Sandy Matz plus Rob's assistants Carolina & Lucy

 

Attendance:                 32  members  6 guests

President John opened with the 4 way test and welcomed our visitors including honorary members Reno Elms and Mavis Martin. Di Clements is now officially our Group 8 Community Leader. Instead of a changeover dinner this year there will be a special dinner event on Tuesday 2 July which Patsy and Valerie have volunteered to help organise.

Paul Duke introduced John Bauer who qualified as an occupational therapist with Uni SA. He spent much of his earlier working life in medical health services until joining Hutt St Centre service delivery in 2011. In 2022 he joined the Salvos team looking after the homeless.

 

The Salvation Army is one of the largest providers of homelessness services across the country. It provides services to adults, and families with accompanying children. These include accommodation, case management, assertive outreach support, financial assistance, together with connection and referral to other specialist services. The philosophy is that every person is afforded dignity, respect and quality of service and that no one should be without a safe, affordable and secure home. At the 2021 Census, there were 123,000 people without homes across the nation. Causes are many - unemployment, mental health issues, drugs and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, criminality etc. A key component of their operations is the partnership with other providers. There is a Salvos Toward Home team which specialises in finding homes, mainly through Housing SA. Strong working relationships have been developed with the Health Department (particularly mental health), police, ambulance and hospitals.They often handle discharges from hospitals and prisons.There is also an outreach service which involves a team of 2 people covering all the parkland areas of the Adelaide City council area each week to check on health and needs of those sleeping rough. A Q&A followed.

 

Emergency housing is very expensive - some families stay in motels for months because there is no suitable alternative. While there is a large stock of vacant houses with Housing SA, most is unsuitable because it is decrepit or has been trashed. Interestingly during the Covid pandemic, miracles were performed with repairs to poor premises but this is no longer happening....and there were many more motel/hotel options available. Even when accommodation is found today it is often for a very limited period eg 3 months. Shelters like St Vincent de Paul with its 49 beds and Catherine House for women experiencing domestic violence have long waiting lists. Salvos operate a sobering-up centre with 20 beds.

Other NFP organisations are engaged to assist the homeless in areas outside the Adelaide region and Fleurieu. 

Unley Rotary purchased 10 shelterbags which it has donated to the Salvos for those sleeping rough. These will be utilised by the Doorways emergency services. Below is our august Community Services Committee (Christina, Patsy, Robyn and Jerry with John Bauer and a shelterbag.

 

 

John was warmly thanked for his presentation.

Jerry Casburn firmly stated that he will no longer spend his weekends phoning members who have failed to respond to his weekly meeting invitation, but there will be a reminder.

 

Stephen Baker exhorted members to put tables or groups of friends together for the fabulous quiz on June 29.....6 tables out of the 20 available had to-date been booked. He also asked those members shortly distributing the Pride of Work material along Unley Rd to seek donations from shopkeepers for the quiz.

 

Christina Way is sleeping rough at the Soup and Sleep event of Food on the Table on 6 June and she would appreciate whatever support club members can provide. To donate to the cause and assist Christina: http://soupandsleep.org.au/christina-way    [If this does not connect, cut and paste into search engine.] Christina thanked those who continued to donate stamps.

 

John Smith who formerly ran a computer repair business is looking for donations of 2 monitors to help people he is assisting. Jerry explained that these could be readily sourced from Donations in Kind (now RARE) in Salisbury if there were none available from our members.

 

Ross Burton would appreciate more wine donations for the Quiz Night.

 

Patsy Beckett reported a healthy revenue of $450 from the Mitre10 BQ last Saturday.

 

Paul Duke congratulated Christina for participating in the soup and sleep event (and will no doubt be helping Christina with recuperative massage the following morning). His grandson Harry is martyring himself for he family honour at this same event and would appreciate any donations.

Patsy Beckett won the filthy lucre but......just to rub salt into the wounds of the rest of us.......stated that she had asked Greg to make the ticket selection. Now, thinking laterally, we should arm Greg with some cash to buy a modest priced lottery ticket with the Rotary Foundation being the benefactor.....(or maybe the editor?).

The Thrift Shop produced revenue of $1758 last week.

      

The meeting closed benignly at 7.45pm after an amphibian tall story by the Prez.

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