The opportunity to attend outreach as guests came after ACCIONA sponsored Rosies-Friends on the Street’s signature fundraising event of the year: their annual long lunch, which raised over $100,000 to support their work with the homeless community across Queensland.

Six members of the Brisbane team joined Rosies’ regular volunteers on two separate outreaches in the Brisbane CBD – Roma Street in the city and Musgrave Park in South Brisbane.

Acciona team prepping for outreach

The team met with Rosies’ volunteers at their storage hub in Annerley, receiving a safety briefing from the night shift Team Leader before assisting in packing the outreach vans with a range of items, including hot and cold drinks, cup noodles, snacks, hygiene products, and, of course, Easter eggs, to spread a little holiday cheer!

The purpose-built Rosies vans are fitted with a serving station in the rear where large hot and cold water thermoses are strapped in; tea, coffee and milo are available in dispensers; and cups and cutlery can be stored.

On each shift, the Team Leader completed a checklist to ensure all items had been packed and secured in the vans before the crew headed out to set up for their two-hour outreach service.

Rosies services are delivered 365 days per year, with 216 outreaches offered in 14 regions across Queensland, from Cairns to the Gold Coast and out west to Toowoomba. Over a 12-month period, Rosies’ dedicated 1,650+ strong volunteers interact with more than 85,000 patrons on the streets across Queensland. And demand continues to grow at an alarming rate.

Many patrons are regulars who show up for Rosies outreach time and time again because it provides a rare source of stability and connection for them, at an unstable time in their lives when they may be experiencing homelessness, risk of homelessness, health concerns and social isolation.

Acciona team getting ready for outreach service

Patrons like Clayton, who showed up for both outreaches that our ACCIONA team attended, speaking passionately (and at a million miles an hour) about the horror, fantasy and sci-fi novel all blended into one that he is busy writing.

Or a truck driver who told daggy jokes to make the volunteers laugh: “What’s the least spoken language in the world? Sign language.”

Then there were patrons like Mark who told us about his precarious hostel accommodation and explained that he comes to outreach each week for a cuppa and a chat, seeking connection and, in his words, “kindness”.

There was a real and genuine sense of camaraderie amongst the volunteers and patrons. They knew each other by name and picked up where they left off on conversations from the last time they saw each other.

At one outreach, volunteer Catherine brought a handful of salami sticks for patron Leon because she recalled he’d asked for them the last few times she’d seen him. As she handed them over, a smile broke out across Leon’s face, and you could see how much this gesture meant to him. It’s not the salami sticks; it’s that Catherine genuinely listened to him and has shown up for him yet again.

Two hours on outreach blitzes flew by, and before they knew it, our volunteers had packed up the van, said their goodbyes to the patrons and headed back to the Annerley hub to unpack and debrief before heading home.

Contracts Manager, Rebecca Farrell, provided her reflections from the Musgrave Park outreach:

“I didn’t know what to expect going into it, and my thoughts were probably clouded by what I had seen in the media about homelessness.

“I tried to think about it from the perspective of ‘we listen and we don’t judge’ the patrons of Rosies, who are just people doing their best to get through life. Some of them have fallen on hard times, some are lonely, and some have slipped through the cracks of the health care system.

“Most of the patrons just wanted a coffee, a chat, and maybe something to eat. One patron I spoke to said the Council came through recently and moved many people along. Everyone wondered where they had all gone, and the regular volunteers were genuinely worried about the patrons they hadn’t seen for a while,”
said Rebeсса.

All six of our volunteers said they thoroughly enjoyed the experience of attending outreach with Rosies, noting that it had changed their views on homelessness, disadvantage and social isolation.