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Temporary day drop-in centres on the Gold Coast during the Commonwealth Games

Due to logistical issues all Rosies Gold Coast Services will be closed from March 31 to April 16. We will reopen on Tuesday April 17.

In the meantime Rosies volunteers are offering their services to the  three temporary day time drop-in centres available on the Gold Coast.

Are you homeless or at risk of homelessness? These centres will provide a safe space for you to relax and enjoy a meal, shower and toilets, as well as free access to a range of support services. To find these centre locations visit 7CareConnect.com If you require assistance outside these hours, contact the Homeless Hotline – 1800 474 753

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Running for Rosies – 140 kms with a wheelbarrow

Back in 2015 Joshua selflessly pushed himself to the limits to help people who are homeless in his hometown of Mareeba. He spent three days pushing a wheelbarrow 140km to help raise funds for the Rosies Mareeba branch. This year his ‘little’ brother Jake takes on the challenge with the objective to help the local Rosies branch by beating Josh’s time and target.

Jake is a student at St. Stephen’s Catholic College in Mareeba and he is raising awareness and funds for Rosies in Mareeba.

Day 1: Chillagoe – Almaden 35 kms

Day 2: Almaden – Dimbulah 65 kms

Day 3: Dimbulah – Mareeba 44 kms

 

 

 

 

 

HOW CAN I CONTRIBUTE?

Firstly, all funds raised go directly to Rosies, a charity associated with the Catholic church, Mareeba. The entry fee and any other expenses incurred are paid by the runner from his part-time job at Piagnos Newsagency, a “Rosies Runner” supporter. If it was easy, everyone would do it. 140 kms.

[maxbutton id=”1″ url=”https://www.mycause.com.au/page/172319/running-for-rosies” ]

About The Great Wheelbarrow Race

Late in the 1800’s when work was scarce and transportation was limited, miners often used to travel about the region using a wheelbarrow to carry all of their possessions. In 2004, as a tribute to these early pioneers and to honour their amazing trail-blazing feats, the road between Mareeba and Chillagoe was named the Wheelbarrow Way.  Today, the Wheelbarrow Way traverses this same country and follows a similar path close to the railway line which was originally privately owned but has since been incorporated into the state rail system. The line was originally used to ship material from the Chillagoe smelter to Cairns via Mareeba.

 

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It’s a long way to the top…

THANK YOU to all our wonderful volunteers involved in yesterday’s SkyPoint Sea to Sky Q1 Stair Challenge on the Gold Coast. Whether you climbed, cheered, guided participants, or looked after registrations, THANK YOU!

 

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Engaging with youth

Yalari Students joined us on outreach in Beenleigh

Engaging with youth is an essential part of Rosies mission. On Shrove Tuesday, four of our younger volunteers served morning tea to over 600 students from schools in the Archdiocese of Brisbane. Some of these young students will become volunteers in years to come having experienced the humble friendship of Rosies.

Meanwhile on the Gold Coast, a group of international students made a presentation about Rosies and won a school competition. They kindly donated their prize to Rosies.

In Beenleigh the team welcomed Yalari students to their outreach. Their presence shone on our patrons and team members alike. Many were amazed by the well mannered students and really enjoyed interacting with them.
Rosies Cairns had a great outreach with the return of students from Trinity Anglican School, Cairns. Students and volunteers alike were all smiles and eager to get out to meet our friends on the street.
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Reaching new heights!

Rosies volunteer and teacher in Brisbane, Andrew reached some new heights. He climbed Mt Kilimanjaro for Rosies. He just arrived back from Tanzania and is getting ready for school. He will have lots of stories to share with his students about conquering the highest summit in Africa bringing Rosies with him to the top at – 40C. Congratulations Andrew and thank you for all you do at Rosies for our friends on the street! There is another summit to conquer a lot closer to us on the Gold Coast, if you are up to the challenge…

Students from St Joseph’s College in Toowoomba made these awesome teddy bears out of our old Rosies jumpers for us to hand them out on the street and keep a couple of them to supervise the team. Meanwhile, the branch visited Kialla Pure Foods, which nominated Rosies as charity of choice. Our Team Leader and Head Miller at Kialla Pure Foods, Jack cooked a monthly BBQ for his work mates and took our Coordinators on an amazing tour of the mill facilities. The team spoke about the work of Rosies while displaying our local van and BBQ trailer. Thank you to everyone at Kialla Pure Foods for supporting Rosies and our friends on the street!

 

 

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Congratulations Lisa!

Rosies Beenleigh coordinator, Lisa share with us her day.

“What an exciting Australia Day I had. I attended the City of Logan Citizenship Ceremony and Australia Day Awards as I was nominated and judged to be part of the celebration for the 2018 Citizen of the Year for my work with ROSIES FRIENDS ON THE STREET, youth diabetes and mental health.

It was an honour to stand on the stage alongside some amazing people who give their time to do what they love. Huge congratulations go to Aunty Peggy who won and who has worked tirelessly with Education Queensland for many years as well as working with women and children who are victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

The nomination for this Award is not about me but about community and friendship both

on and off the street! It’s about the volunteers who make Rosies happen each and every Thursday and Saturday, the Logan businesses who donate food (Logan Village Family Favourites Bakery, Dine with Joy, bakeries in Beenleigh and Marsden), the Sikh family who make sandwiches and delivers fruit to outreaches, Pat who sews our hygiene packs and fills them with generous donations from our community, Windaroo Valley High and a teacher named Karen Gardyne who organises student donations of all of our long life milk, as well as the Beenleigh Region Uniting Church who took us in when we found ourselves homeless! My volunteer role is really easy and it’s exciting to be coordinating our Rosies family in Beenleigh.

Thanks to everyone for your congratulations and for working with me to keep on giving!”

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Christmas is still in the air


Rosies Sunshine Coast had a fantastic Christmas on the Street with in excess of 80 patrons and lots of Rosies red shirts celebrating together. Club Kawana continues their amazing support of providing and serving roast meats, vegies, plum pudding and custard. Our friends on the street were delighted with the array of tables laden with grocery items, ladies handbags full of personal items, hygiene packs, toys, cute stuffed animals, clothes and shoes. We were pleased to have ‘The Tribute to John’ family join us again to hand out noodle boxes full of selections of home-made sweets. Felicity Park was full of ambience with trees lit up with fairy lights and our own Chrissy decorations.

Meanwhile on the Gold Coast, we are blessed to welcome Tony from Goodfellaz Barbershop at Benowa Village for joining us on outreach in Surfers Paradise. Tony kindly offers his barber talent to those less fortunate. He spoke to them all with such respect, introducing himself and asking the patron their name. We all watched transformations before our eyes, like Geoff. Geoff just glowed afterwards.Tony will generously provide this service on the last Friday of each month. Thank you Tony!

Last but not least, Rosies Wynnum Manly received some presents from Bunnings Manly West. The local store offered us more storage boxes and a huge esky to the Rosies branch. Boxes will help us organise our stock, while we will use the esky for our monthly BBQ at St Peter’s Church for our friends on the street.This morning we had a visit from the local Commonwealth Bank Manly West at our outreach in Wynnum. The branch made a donation to support our local outreach.

Christmas is still in the air…

 

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Reaching out to the youth 30 years on…

We have now started to outreach in South Brisbane on Tuesday night. The feedback we have already received so far is very positive. Some of our friends on the street are waiting for us at the park when we arrive and they hang around with us until we leave.

Rosies received many expressions of interest fromyoung people under 18 who want to get involved and cannot volunteer with us due to their age. Well, San Sisto College has found an alternative for their year 7s and 8s. The school iscommitted to help Rosies every month by sending a group of students to the Brisbane outreach room. Students help us by cleaning the vans and room, restocking, and much more! It makes a big difference to all our teams in Brisbane.  As with many other schools actively supporting Rosies throughout the year,  San Sisto college Year 12 take part in our Student Engagement Program.

On the Gold Coast Rosies Coordinator Kathleen paid a visit to Elanora State High School. The school coordinated a much appreciated drive of non perishable food for our Drop In Centre in Southport.

Last, but not least, our friends from Making a Difference (MaD) have collected and put together in record time sixty backpacks filled with men’s toiletries for our Logan branch.

Tomorrow Rosies will be at Schoolies for the 30th consecutive year helping young school leavers stay hydrated while celebrating. We wish a safe and enjoyable time to all school leavers and a week without worry to their parents.

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A new hope

Rosies is blessed to have such a wonderful diversity of volunteers. Bachar and Emil, Christian Syrian refugees  arrived in Toowoomba less than a year ago. They happily joined Rosies to make a difference in their adoptive country. Bachar and Emil come to outreach every Friday to spend time with our friends on the street. It is a great joy having them among us in Toowoomba. On another note the branch farewells one of its founding members, Annette.  Annette and her husband David are relocating to where the fish are biting. We will miss them.

Meanwhile, Rosies Ipswich branch held their volunteer Recognition Ceremony. Awards were presented by Mark from the Board of Rosies. The team welcomed  Costa Georgiadis from gardening Australia on outreach. Costa made himself available to all. Many of our friends on the street asked him questions and took photos with him. Costa was quite impressed with how the Rosies team interacted with not only himself as a guest but also the patrons. He shook everybody’s hand before leaving.

There were a few social events across the branches in the last few days. On the Gold Coast, the Rotary Carousel Broadbeach invited our coordinator, Kathleen for a talk. Rotary made a donation to the branch for the purchase of lights and folding benches at the new outreach venue on Hamilton Avenue, Southport. In Wynnum Manly the Rosies team met with our friends at Wellington Manor. The retirement village has been supportive of the local branch from the beginning.  On the Sunshine Coast Rosies Coordinator, Carolyn was invited to present the work of Rosies within the community at the Glasshouse Country VIEW Club.

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“Every setback is a set-up or a come back”

Today we had an inspiring meeting with one of our longtime friends Chris. He and Rosies met in Brisbane 28 years ago. Since then Chris has started his own lawn mowing company- Chris’ Lawns & Green Garden Waste Removal – on the Gold Coast. He has 60 clients and encourages everyone to have goals. He keeps coming to Rosies for the friendship.

Chris started mowing to help out a friend. He did such a good job other people offered him to look after their gardens. With the money he earned Chris bought a mower, then another one, then a van and later a trailer. He lived in his van for a while but now he rents.

Chris keeps coming to Rosies for the friendship. He enjoys a chat and likes to share his experience with others so they can believe in themselves like he did. Chris occasionally offers casual work to our patrons when he gets enough projects to work on.

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