St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria Inc.
Newsletter 250 | March-April 2011
A PUBLICATION FOR SOCIETY MEMBERS, VOLUNTEERS AND S TA F F
FLOOD UPDATE: BERNIE TREVASKIS, PRESIDENT, NORTH EASTERN CENTRAL COUNCIL The floods in the North Eastern Central Council region have predominantly occurred in the mid Murray region. The Society’s Bendigo Region supplied the Bendigo City Council with mattresses for their relief centres in Inglewood and Castlemaine. All conferences in the Bendigo region remain on standby to assist many households once the losses are known. Rochester was severely affected, with extensive flooding to 80 per cent of the businesses and local homes. The Rochester conference room was inundated and most members were evacuated from their own homes, however they are now ready to assist where needed. Echuca escaped relatively unscathed due to levee banks preventing greater damage. However the Kerang township was evacuated for one week with most conference members sheltering in the evacuation centre however they too were relatively lucky with levee banks holding firm. In addition to the towns affected, there has been enormous damage caused to farming communities in these areas; communities that have endured more than 10 years of drought. The year was looking promising for these farmers until
Sputnik Agency Appointed After a five-way pitch Sputnik Agency was recently appointed to create the Society's national Christmas and Winter appeals. These campaigns include TV, radio, print and online advertising as well as direct marketing. As part of the briefing process the Sputnik team visited a number of facilities, outreach services and special projects including the Fitzroy Soup Van. Reported by the team as being a very worthwhile experience, some of the realisations from a Sputnik staff member was how easy it can be for people to end up on the streets and how you could walk past a homeless person on the streets without realising it. The preparation and production of the national Winter Appeal 2011 is now well underway and promises to be a meaningful and challenging campaign.
the floods appeared and once again that promise disappeared, along with their financial returns for another year. In Calivil, north west of Echuca, farms were flooded by the channel system overflowing and in the Benjeroop and Kerang areas there are dozens of farms and homes still inundated with water not likely to dissipate until the coming summer. Many of these families cannot even get to their farms let alone their homes due to the state of the roads and their tracks. Most people affected by the floods have applied for government grants but many are unsure whether they will receive funding. The most urgent needs that conferences can assist with are food, education expenses, supplying fencing material, costs of chemicals for dealing with mould and the mouse plague and replacement of household furniture and goods. They will also support community events that will reinvigorate their communities. Many people are unsure of their needs until they are able to return to their homes so we are still to see a great deal of the demand for assistance. Conference members are on standby to further assist those affected by these floods when these needs arise.
2
U P D AT E
National Council elects new President
State President’s Message
Dear Fellow Vincentians, Volunteers, Staff and Supporters, Anthony Thornton was elected on 19 March The election for the Society's 2011 as the new President of the St Vincent National President took place at de Paul Society National Council of Australia. the National Council Meeting on Mr Thornton said, "We are ordinary people Saturday 19 March 2011. There lending a hand to anyone in need. We have were five candidates: Ron never done this with any fanfare and we are not Beecham (QLD), John D'Souza (SA), Dominic Lagana (SA), about to start. John O'Brien (VIC) and Tony Thornton (ACT). Tony Thornton was elected on the first ballot. “We will, however, continue to be a strong voice Tony Thornton has been a member of the Society for 17 years for the people who have been pushed to the edges of Australian society: people doing it tough and was awarded an MBE for his service in the RAAF. He was formerly the President of the Society's Canberra-Goulburn on pensions and benefits, people in low-paid Central Council and more recently, the Society's National work, people who are homeless, people who live Secretary. with a mental illness, asylum seekers and members of the First Peoples who have been The Vinnies CEO Sleepout will be held on Thursday 16 June dispossessed and excluded." 2011 at Etihad Stadium. This is a major fundraiser and needs all the support we can give it. Last year’s inaugural event was a Mr Thornton will great success raising more than $414,000 for Society’s be leading the St homeless projects including: Vincent de Paul Funding for the ongoing provision of meals at Ozanam Society in House and Ozanam Community Centre, which provide an Australia for the average of 140 lunches per day to people who are next four years. homeless. He said that he looks forward to Assistance for Ozanam Community Centre and Ozanam listening to the House to continue to provide hot showers, access to clean people on the clothing and blankets and medical, dental and eye care ground and treatment. working closely Help to continue to provide mental health outreach, housing with them to build information and referral, alcohol and drug programs, client a more just and volunteer programs, women's services, general support and compassionate educational activities. Australia. For more information regarding the Vinnies CEO Sleepout and how you can sponsor our own CEOs Brian Dalton (Society) and John Blewonski (VincentCare), visit Deceased Members, Volunteers, Family and Friends www.ceosleepout.org.au John Condon Ex-President, Gippsland Central Council The College Conference Day was Susan D’Onofrio Member, St Peter’s Clayton Conference held at St Kevin's College in Toorak Margaret Dobson Member, Chelsea Conference on Thursday 10 March 2011 and was Zahra Fram Ex-Secretary, St Peter’s Clayton Conference a great success with 18 schools and Agnes Gibson Volunteer, Morwell Centre 180 pupils attending. Brian Gleeson Member, Sydnal Conference Veronica Howard Wife of John, Jordanville Conference The theme was 'Christ has no hands Brian Jeffrey Member, Bright Conference but ours'. This is an important event Rene Kenter Member, Moe Conference for the Society as it is the foundation Patricia Lynch Wife of Jim, Essendon Conference for future members of the Society. Elsie McKnight Volunteer, Kerang Centre Val Morphette President, Ringwood North Conference God bless
Prayers are requested for...
Cynthia Murphy Marie Murphy Pat Simkin Pat Toomey Bob Worner
Member, St Michael’s Traralgon Conference Member, Altona Meadows/Laverton Conference Member, Benalla Conference Ex-Treasurer/member, North Eastern Central Council, Bendigo Region and Kangaroo Flat Conference Member, St Michael’s Ashburton Conference
To ensure correct acknowledgement please forward any requests for prayers to Philip Mackey by phone on 03 9895 5837 or email philipm@svdp-vic.org.au.
Tony Tome State President
U P D AT E
3
Vinnies CEO Sleepout Each year the Fundraising Institute of Australia holds their 'Awards for excellence in fundraising'. We are delighted that at the 2011 awards, our 2010 Victorian Vinnies CEO Sleepout event was awarded the 'special events' category. The South Australian and ACT events also won their state awards and the South Australian event went on to win the national special event fundraising award. Preparations are well underway for the 2011 Vinnies CEO Sleepout. Before the event has even officially been launched, more than 50 CEOs and community leaders have
registered to participate in the event at Etihad Stadium on 16 June 2011. Our own CEOs Brian Dalton and John Blewonski will be joined by CEOs from organisations such as Coates Hire, Apprenticeships Plus, Southern Cross Media and the Police Credit Union. For more information about the CEO Sleepout or to throw your weight behind Brian or John with sponsorship dollars, visit www.ceosleepout.org.au As mentioned in Tony Tome's message, the funds raised through this event are used to support the Society’s work with Victoria's homeless population.
Ozanam Lecture The 14th annual Ozanam Lecture was again a wonderful occasion for those who attended. Reverend Desmond de Sousa, a Redemptorist priest and professor of Catholic Social Teaching spoke on global poverty and challenged us to "be more" for those we serve instead of "having more" things available for them. Maria Minto Cahill, member of the Membership & Development Advisory Committee and President of the Flemington Conference responded to Reverend de Souza. Maria thanked and concurred with Reverend de Souza and talked about the many ways in which the St Vincent de Paul Society responds to poverty in Victoria. Content of the 2011 Ozanam Lecture will be made available in a booklet and included in a future mailout. Pictured above at the 2011 Ozanam Lecture (l to r) Reverend Desmond de Sousa, Maria Minto Cahill and State President Tony Tome.
VincentCare Strategic Planning The board of VincentCare Victoria has embarked upon an organisation-wide strategic planning process to set the course for the next three to five years. As part of this process, staff from all services have been invited to participate in focus groups where they have an opportunity to provide input into the future of the organisation. All groups are ultimately working to answer the question 'How can VincentCare better meet the needs of disadvantaged Victorians?' The groups cover governance; services for the aged and frail; poverty; disability employment; human resources, culture and change; financial and infrastructure resources; profile, communications, fundraising and advocacy. The outcomes of the strategic planning process will be made public as the process comes to fruition.
U P D AT E K e v i n S l a t t e r y a w a r d e d h i g h e s t R o ta r y h o n o r Congratulations to Kevin Slattery, who was presented with the Paul Harris International Fellowship Award as Boroondara Special Person of the Year, for 'Service above Self' on 29 March at the Rotary Club of Glenferrie. This is the highest award made by the Rotary Club. Kevin, a longstanding and respected resident of Hawthorn, and a librarian by profession, has been President of the Hawthorn Conference for 17 years and also President of Camberwell Regional Council for over five years. Much of his life has been and is still devoted to the grass roots works of the Society as well as various Jesuit Mission works. Kevin is currently the State Archivist and does a great job assisting conferences to seek out historical information about their conferences. Kevin is a very keen gardener and this passion has led him to develop a beautiful cottage garden in Daylesford while continuing to run a gardening fair at Hawthorn's St Immaculate Conception
Church for many years, raising many thousands of dollars to support the Jesuit Mission's overseas works. I can particularly remember Kevin for being my first contact with the Society some 11 years ago when I was looking for voluntary work. He has been an inspiration to me and to many others. Poolo Jothy President, Camberwell Regional Council
Social justice in conferences On Saturday 9 April 2011, the Social Justice Committee gathered for the annual social justice forum. The theme of the day was "Everyone is entitled to have somewhere to call home". Conference members are acutely aware of the housing challenges that face the people we assist. Challenges range from no money to pay the rent, threats of eviction, over crowding, substandard properties to name a few. Karren Walker from VincentCare presented at the forum and her enormous amount of practical knowledge on the housing and homeless system was evident. Participants also worked through real housing case studies to propose strategies to deal with the problems presented and then after lunch, Des McCarthy, a Vincentian with a passion for housing justice, presented to the group about practical housing advocacy that conferences can do. The committee also launched the new 'Social justice in conferences' training manual, which provides conferences with a practical up-to-date social justice resource. You will find the manual in the mailout with this edition of Societynews.
Did you know... Societynews can be downloaded from the publications area on our website, log on to:
www.vinnies.org.au
National Volunteer Week A great opportunity to recognise the work of all of our volunteers is National Volunteer Week, held 9-15 May this year. We thank each and every one of you for the work you do in conferences, Vinnies Centres and the many other special works of the Society.
Calendar Dates
Winter Appeal Monday 9 May 2011 Wednesday 31 August 2011 Vinnies CEO Sleepout 2011 Thursday 16 June 2011 Etihad Stadium, Docklands Feast of the Sacred Heart Sunday 3 July 2011 Contributions to Societynews are always welcome. Email: stephanie.puls@svdpvic.org.au or send to: The Editor Societynews St Vincent de Paul Society Locked Bag 4800 Box Hill Vic 3128 Phone: 03 9895 5800 Fax: 03 9895 5850 We endeavour to include as many items as possible in each issue.