Making a difference - Autumn 2011

Newsletter of the St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland | Autumn 2011

2011 DISASTER EDITION

“Whatever it takes” BEHIND THE SCENES

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WHEN THE WATERS RECEDE

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EXTRA HELPING HANDS 5 CYCLONE YASI

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STORIES OF HOPE

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STEP UP PROGRAM LAUNCHED

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young man in Chinchilla who had lost all of his clothing in the floods contacted his local Chinchilla branch (conference) for help.

As the Vinnies Chinchilla store was inundated itself, the two ladies decided to board an SES boat at a submerged roundabout nearby to get to the store.

Queensland floods At least 70 towns and 200,000 people were affected in some way. In Brisbane alone, it is estimated 20,000 houses were inundated by the flood waters.

Here they were able to gain entry and gather suitable clothing for the young man.

More stories inside...

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2011 DISASTER EDITION

Dear friends Our good works are only made possible through the kind generosity of the Society’s friends, whether that be through giving time as a volunteer or member, or by making a thoughtful donation.

The Society’s Autumn 2011 edition of Making a difference provides an insight into how people’s generosity is put into action: the disaster relief efforts of the St Vincent de Paul Society in responding to the shattering Queensland floods, how we assisted people in need over the Christmas period, and our continuing work in providing a hand up, not just a hand out to people in need through our housing, youth, and financial assistance programs.

Peace,

Brian Moore State President St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland

Forward correspondence to:

Editor, Making a difference St Vincent de Paul Society Qld PO Box 3351 Sth Brisbane QLD 4101 e: communications@svdpqld.org.au For more information:

w: www.vinnies.org.au p: 07 3010 1000 f: 07 3010 1099 To make a donation:

p: 13 18 12 w: www.vinnies.org.au To volunteer:

e: volunteer@svdpqld.org.au p: 07 3010 1000 ABN: 14 211 506 904 *Names changed throughout to protect identity.

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ST VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY QUEENSLAND

Behind the scenes Across Queensland, thousands of dedicated St Vincent de Paul Society members have been supporting their local community in the aftermath of both the widespread floods and Tropical Cyclone Yasi, whilst facing their own personal disasters.

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or Cec Murphy, a Society member of nearly 25 years, when the flood waters reached her home at Sherwood in Brisbane’s inner south-west, her first thoughts were of her local community. Cec knows her Sherwood community as intimately as her own family of grown up children.

After the flood waters had ‘done their worst’ to her one storey brick home, by spreading one metre high across the property and devastating all it touched, she began coordinating the support St Vincent de Paul Society could give to the people around her.

Inspired to join the Society after seeing her first husband’s involvement before he passed away, she is well known not only in Sherwood, but through her volunteer work with the Buranda Support Centre. She turned to her team at Buranda to provide her with food and necessities she could give to her community – many of whom had lost everything too.

Cec, who cares for her husband Neil, who is also a Society member, got to work packing numerous care-hampers full of non-perishable food items, cleaning materials, hygiene products and clean linen in amongst her own devastation. She delivered these hampers throughout the ruined neighbourhood, paying particular attention to visit elderly, isolated residents who had made the hard decision to stay behind, alone in their homes because they didn’t know what else to do.

As the media attention dies down, and the tribes of volunteers carry on with their lives, Cec’s neighbours have not forgotten the kindness of Vinnies. A constant stream of visitors continues to pour in to see Cec and Neil, bringing with them warm thanks at the ‘small’, caring hand up she provided to them in their hour of need, despite her own crisis.

Vincentians just like Cec Murphy helped over 300,000 Queenslanders facing personal disaster in the last financial year.

Vinnies Bundaberg, early January 2011

When the waters recede Vinnies is there for the long term

With three quarters of the state being declared a disaster zone in early 2011, the St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland is working tirelessly with flood affected people right throughout the state.

State President Brian Moore said the Society’s first role in a disaster, in accordance with the role allocated by the State Emergency Committee, was to provide evacuation centres with supplies of clean, dry clothing, bedding and linen.

Making a dif

However, the Society’s relief support does not end there.

“We are now in stage two of disaster assistance: long term support to get people back on their feet,” Mr Moore said.

“During the clean-up phase, when people begin returning to their homes, the St Vincent de Paul Society provides for any need that emerges for people in crisis that the government or insurance does not cover.

Mr Moore said the Society has worked to focus its resources on three main areas of need, a school necessities program, a home visit program, as well as a household necessities program. Continues next page....

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2011 DISASTER EDITION

Continued from previous page....

School necessities program Designed to provide disadvantaged flood victim families with children with replacement school necessities such as school books, computers, stationery and uniforms.

Case studies from the flood zone

“With the floods hitting right before back to school time, hundreds of children have had their brand new school supplies destroyed, along with their school uniforms,” Mr Moore said.

“Education is critical, so we really want to make sure children and families affected by the floods don’t miss out on starting the new school year.”

Home visit program Teams of volunteers are visiting flood affected households from their neighbourhood and enquiring if there is anything that can be done to help.

The kinds of assistance that can be made available includes material assistance such as second hand furniture, interest free or low interest loans, emotional and/or financial counselling, advocacy with mortgage holders or insurers etc.

“We have over 2,500 Society members whose core work of home visitation is so unique to the way we provide help to people in need.

“That person-to-person contact and of assessing people’s needs on an individual basis means we do our very best to help, whatever the situation.”

Household necessities program Designed to provide disadvantaged flood victims with replacements for household necessities such as refrigerators and stoves.

“The true extent of the destruction of the floods on Queensland lives, whether that be materially, financially or emotionally, will take time to fully comprehend,” Mr Moore said.

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The local Kenmore branch in Brisbane is located right in the middle of a severely affected area. It immediately set up a help centre at the local primary school, Our Lady of the Rosary, at Kenmore on the first available day people could get in and out of the area.

People called them directly, or the Helpline in Brisbane – they set up clean clothing, counselling service, financial assistance and food. They assisted something in the order of 250 people who requested assistance of various kinds.

Ninety trucks were stranded on the highway near Miles in South Western Queensland due to flood affected roads. Many of the truck drivers had taken their children along with them, as they were on school holidays.

After a day of being stranded, the local conference went out to visit and assess the situation. The local Vinnies branch took the group of bored children into town to the local museum, whilst in the evening a large group of people who had no food were provided with a roast dinner, and those with children were put up in the local motel.

Extra helping hands

Volunteers ready to help clean-up a badly affected retirement village at Goodna.

Over a four week period, Body Shop employees from across Australia have volunteered their time with the St Vincent de Paul Society in Brisbane’s flood ravaged western area.

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he hand-picked Body Shop team, headed by Kerry Robinson, who works in the organisation’s Wise Foundation, worked closely with the local Society conference members to help provide material and emotional assistance to flood victims throughout the Ipswich area.

“It’s about giving people back their dignity and selfesteem. About not telling them what we can do, about really listening to people, and asking them what they need,” Kerry said.

“For many people, the clean-up process has been completely overwhelming. It’s really the little things that have made such a huge difference,” Kerry said.

Making a dif

“We helped clean up and re-floor a kitchen for a couple in Lowood.

The team scrubbed the entire kitchen until it was spotless, cleaned and replaced all the kitchen items.

“They then put some flowers on the table, and made them a cup of coffee.

“It was such a small gesture by us, yet Bob* teared up and said to us, ‘I’ve really had to swallow my vanity.

Words cannot express my gratitude.’”

Much of the team’s hands on work has involved simply dropping by to check in on people, otherwise too proud to admit when they do need a hand up. They’ve helped other people by cleaning up and making their homes liveable, by linking them with local community support centres, and making sure they have access to the Society’s resources.

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2011 DISASTER EDITION

Volunteers get to work sorting through mountains of donations at the Vinnies Lawnton Depot.

Bringing truckloads of donations to QEII for their flood evacuation centre Merivale Street office affected The St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland’s state office was rendered unreachable by the Brisbane river flooding, reaching its peak on Thursday 12 January.

All communications and electricity were cut to the building for almost a week, temporarily disrupting all Society email correspondence.

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The St Vincent de Paul Society in Brisbane worked tirelessly to stock the key evacuation centres at the RNA Showground and QEII with donated clothing, bedding and essentials. The team coordinated the removal of excess donations once the evacuation centres closed down.

In the true spirit of Vinnies Despite destruction from Tropical Cyclone Yasi all around them, volunteers at Vinnies Tully reopened their doors only two days after the storm blasted through.

The store had survived the cyclone, suffering only loss of power, whilst most other nearby structures had sustained severe damage. Whilst the store did its best to survive off a small generator, the team of volunteers, led

by Kathleen Chappell, gave away material assistance, like clean clothing and linen, to anyone who came in to ask for assistance.

Many of the Vinnies Tully volunteers themselves lost their homes or the roofs of their houses, or had parts of their accommodation blown away. Yet, they busily manned the store to make sure their community had access to what they needed.

Above: Kathleen Chappell in her Vinnies Tully store.

Teams from nearby towns, including Cairns, came to Tully to help relieve the volunteers on-site so they were able to return home and assess the damage to their own lives. People are also working steadily to sort through mountains of donations.

Top right: Townsville Diocesan Central Council President Peter Daniel with donated blankets for cyclone victims.

Below: Destruction clean-up on the streets of Tully.

Making a dif

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Stories of hope

Paul and Liam from the Gold Coast’s Families Back on Track facility.

With 146 new units of housing being opened in the past financial year, the St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland has given the gift of housing to even more people facing homelessness.

accommodation. But when a place at the Gold Coast’s St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland Families Back on Track (FBOT) was offered to her, she was able to start having her daughter visit for overnight contacts and within a month the child was able to be returned to her full time care.

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When visiting the little family at FBOT, the young girl cheerfully said, “Come and see my room Mum has made for me.”

ack* is an older man who has spent the greater part of his adult life doing it tough. For as long as most of us would regret, he was homeless, sleeping where he could, and when he arrived in the town, he made his home on the banks of the river. He thought he was lucky when he found a temporary bed at a homeless hostel. Then he was introduced to the local Vincentian Housing Project. His story is just one of thousands who are the result of a mental disability and who spend long periods of time in psychiatric wards of Australian hospitals.

“I’ve been here now for three years and my hospital stays are now down to about one every six months and I don’t stay the long periods I used to stay. I have a real home now that I can call my own. I have friends around me. I love cooking old bush tucker and I make this my contribution to the morning teas we have around here.

She also showed off the kitchen cupboards where she had helped Mum put away the food and the dishes and then proudly told how her seat was at the head of the table. Now Mum, who had never before cooked for herself, is learning to cook in FBOT’s on-site support centre, and her daughter said, after a breakfast of scrambled eggs, that she had had “the best breakfast ever.”

When she was asked what she was going to have for breakfast the next morning the quick reply was “More scrambled eggs of course!”

If it wasn’t for Vinnies I would be still out there sleeping rough and alone. But it’s all different now.”

“I love it here! I slept in my own bed last night! I have my very own bed and it was so nice! I can’t wait to go to bed in my own bed. God must have been listening to my prayers - thank you so much!”

One young mother was separated from her 8 year old daughter as she couldn’t find suitable affordable

9 year old boy after his first night sleeping at FBOT with his mother and two brothers. They had been living in their grandparents’ garage, sharing beds.

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Vincentian Peter Anderson, Narelle Robinson, director of ABC Learning Centre, Vincentians Louise Anderson and Jean Morgan.

Buranda Support Centre - Snapshot of Christmas assistance 49 Corporate Sponsorships for families in 1 the local Conferences 0 Christmas Hampers for people who have 2 been moved into assisted housing.

0 Food Christmas Hampers for families 1 who came to Buranda.

5 Food Christmas Hampers for single 2 people who come to Buranda for bread.

Buddies Days Currently operating in ten locations throughout Queensland, the St Vincent de Paul Society’s Buddies Day program provides a support network for young people unlike many other programs. For one day a month, a disadvantaged child is given the opportunity to mix with children from other backgrounds and be supported, cared for and mentored.

Natasha’s story Eight-year-old Natasha is about to start grade four at her third school in two years. Her mother is a single parent, and hasn’t been able to find permanent long-term accommodation due to a shortage of work

Making a dif

and a lack of affordable housing. Natasha has trouble making friends her own age because of her continual moving. After receiving a call for help by Natasha’s mother, the local conference was able to refer her onto the local Buddies Day Program, and Natasha was able to participate in the program on a monthly basis.

Natasha has since joined the new program, and has met other people within her school and local community she can now call her friends.

To find out how you can make a difference in a child like Natasha’s life, please contact our State Youth Facilitators on 3010 1000 or email youth@svdpqld.org.au.

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Friendship and support

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or the St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland, the core work of addressing hunger and homelessness is still critical, but the emotional challenges of poverty are on the rise, with more and more people with mental health issues turning to Vinnies for help.

Chairman of the Society’s Mental Health Committee, Chris Davidson, said as members carry out their volunteer work of home visitation providing food or friendship “it’s obvious… that they need more.”

Quick news National President The Society in Australia is mourning the loss of National President Syd Tutton, who passed away on December 12, 2010 after a short battle with cancer.

Free migration advice service Free visa advice service is now offered by Vinnies QLD to migrant and refugee residents in the Gold Coast and Logan areas. Visit Vinnies.org.au to find out more.

Vinnies CEO awarded OAM

“For those with mental illness, it can leave them isolated and confused, so they inevitably ‘fall through the cracks’ not just of the welfare system but of society in general.”

Peter Maher, QLD CEO of the St Vincent de Paul Society, was awarded an Order of Australia medal in the 2011 Australia Day awards for his services to the community through his teaching, government work, and non-profit career.

“We are finding people who are seeking help from the Society have deeper, more significant problems.”

Did you know?

An example of understanding mental health in action is the story of George* whom his Vincentian contacts feared had been contemplating suicide due to his deep depression. They continually spoke with him, fast-tracked his application with Centrelink for disability support, took him to job interviews and provided positive, caring interaction.

Since Vinnies’ involvement, George found a job in what he had hoped for and is a completely ‘different’ person.

I n 2009/2010, those most likely to seek assistance from the Society continued to be people aged between 25 and 44. he Society assisted 315,000 people in the past T financial year. mong those seeking assistance last year were a A growing number of women and children who were temporarily homeless after a relationship breakdown. he number of people homeless or in housing stress T has increased. he amount of financial and in-kind assistance T provided to alleviate people in need also grew.

SAVE THE DATE! 2011 Vinnies CEO Sleepout – Thursday June 16 The St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland will again be hosting the Vinnies CEO Sleepout at South Bank Parklands’ Suncorp Piazza to raise awareness and money to help battle the growing homelessness crisis.

To register your interest or to find out more, please visit ceosleepout.org.au

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Become a Member of a

Conference (local branch)

olunteer V ake a financial donation M Make a gift-in-kind Make a bequest For more information contact the state office

07 3010 1000

or email: state.admin@svdpqld.org.au

Vinnies launches new program to help financially disadvantaged People who are financially disadvantaged on the Gold Coast, Ipswich and Inala are now able to access safe and affordable credit through StepUp Loans – a low interest unsecured personal loan.

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he not-for-profit program is offered in partnership with National Australia Bank (NAB), and the Good Shepherd Youth & Family Service, to be facilitated by the St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland’s Gold Coast and Western Brisbane offices.

The loans are specifically designed for people living on low incomes and enables people to purchase necessary goods and services.

“We are seeing the effects of the cost of living pressures on a day-to-day basis on those who are already struggling to keep their heads above water,” State President of the St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland, Brian Moore, said.

“Being able to give people the financial ‘hand up’ they need through a StepUp loan, whether that be for an essential household item like a fridge or washing machine, paying for car repairs or for medical expenses, will make all the difference in the lives of hundreds of Queenslanders really struggling.”

StepUp loans are personal loans between $800 and $3000 for terms up to three years with a concessionary fixed interest rate (3.99%).

Applicants must hold a current Centrelink Health Care Card or Pension Card or receive Family Tax Benefit A, and must have lived at their current address for more than three months.

To find out more about StepUp loans, contact the local St Vincent de Paul Society StepUp officers at the Gold Coast on 5561 4712 or for Ipswich / Inala on 3716 1200.

CASE STUDY Glen is an 18-year-old with Crohn’s disease who wants to lead a normal life, despite his illness. He is studying at TAFE, and plans to start his own business and work from home, where he can best manage his illness.

Due to limited public transport in his area, Glen was relying on his mother to drive him to TAFE. A StepUp loan has provided Glen with the funds to purchase a car, which in turn gave him a new lease on life and the freedom to pursue his dream.

Gold Coast StepUp officer Louise King, No Interest Loans coordinator Chanelle Bailey, and Ipswich/Inala StepUp officer Brendan Gormley.

Making a dif

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Poem from a donor May we take your hand and offer you Love and understanding too We farmers battle through fire, drought and flood In tending our land we spend tears, sweat and blood Our farms and our work we do love But there are lots of times we need help from above And help from each other we can give Just so those in trouble can better live So now when you receive our gift to you Please say a prayer for us too To make a donation to the St Vincent de Paul Society’s Flood Appeal visit Vinnies.org.au, call 13 18 12 or post your donation to PO Box 3351, South Brisbane Q 4101 using the form below.

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Send to: St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland PO Box 3351 South Brisbane Qld 4101 To make an on-line donation visit www.vinnies.org.au To make a phone donation call 13 18 12

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