Rosies Gold Coast is pleased to announce a brand new outreach in Nerang on Wednesdays.
The Rosies’ van will be present in Bischof Pioneer Park in Nerang on Wednesdays between 7.30pm – 9.00pm.
There is a surge of homeless people in South East Queensland. Many of them are fleeing the colder temperature in NSW and Victoria.
Our teams will be out giving away blankets in Brisbane, Calboolture, Cairns, Gold Coast (in Southport and Surfers Paradise), Ipswich, Woodrige, Mareeba, Caloundra and Toowoomba
The new van was blessed on Wednesday 8th July at 2pm in Munro Martin Park.
Dr Sharmila Biswas (our driving force fundraiser) representing AMA handed the new van over to Andrew O’Brien Rosies General Manager.
Rosie’s aims to help homeless people with the simple things: something to eat and someone to talk to. But Wynnum doesn’t have a dedicated Rosie’s service. 612 reporter Saskia Edwards spoke to Rosie’s General Manager Andrew O’Brien.
Click here to listen to the interview.
It’s this time of the year again when CEOs sleep-out to raise money and awareness for the homeless. The 2015 Vinnies CEO Sleepout will take place on Thursday 18 June 2015 at Suncorp Stadium. For several years Rosies has been assisting with the event. Once again we will be present. Our volunteers will provide hospitality to the participants.
It is a major event to raise funds and help over 100,000 homeless people in Australia.
Dealing with the rigours of completing Year 12 would be considered more than enough for most teenagers to deal with, but Joshua Priestly isn’t your average teenager.
At a time when many students are rightly focused solely on their studies, Joshua selflessly pushed himself to the limits to help people who are homeless in his hometown of Mareeba.
In May, Joshua spent three days pushing a wheelbarrow 140km to help raise funds for Rosies Mareeba branch.
What makes the feat even more admirable is that he completed the Great Wheelbarrow Race solo – when many compete in a team.
The St Stephens Catholic School captain said Rosies was a perfect fit for his fundraising campaign.
“Rosies helps Mareeba youth and is associated with the church, so I thought it was the best charity to support,” he said.
Rosies General Manager Andrew O’Brien said the organisation was impressed with Joshua’s initiative.
“It is encouraging to see young people take such a strong interest in lending a hand to those in the community who have found themselves on the fringes,” he said.
Joshua raised over $1600.
On Wednesday nights at the entrance to Woodridge railway station, Rosies volunteers arrive to the eager faces of patrons from every continent bar Antarctica.
Ruby, from her wheelchair, tells Andrew he must be a new volunteer because she hasn’t seen his face before.
Robbie, from the local Islamic temple turns up with home cooked meals for about 20 patrons.
New Rosies Chaplain Fr John David (recently arrived from India) joins Robbie as they engage with Sri Lankan, Iranian and other refugees.
Fr John speaks Tamil easily which facilitates some animated conversation.
Ed tunefully fills the backdrop with a variety of harmonica solos, and cheerfully tells a tale in spite of now being on his own and not in the best of health.
The Street Doctor (a Bangladeshi migrant) and his nurse (a delightful young Somalian woman) tend professionally and happily to an array of patients who would otherwise be reluctant to seek medical attention.
A young woman from Caboolture, looking rather lost, couldn’t believe the service on offer.
‘We have 216 nationalities in Logan,’ Logan branch coordinator Margaret Harvey says proudly, ‘and many of them are represented among our patrons and of our volunteer ranks.
‘The diversity ensures its never a dull moment.’
Yet it would be easy to get subsumed in the general camaraderie.
The dangers are obvious for some of the more vulnerable and we pray they have the strength to stand their ground.
The bond of our volunteer teams no doubt gives them hope.
New South Wales native, regular Rosies patron and new volunteer Hayley holds the work of the organisation in very high esteem.
‘It’s a meeting place for people in the community, to catch up with friends and to make new ones over a coffee and a bite to eat.’
Hayley, 35, moved to Cairns just over a year ago to get a new start and heard about Rosies through church.
She attends nearly every night and has been volunteering for two months.
‘I love helping other people – those who cannot afford to pay their rent, food or power bills.’
She says the volunteers are kind and friendly and everyone wants Rosies to stay.
‘It’s a pleasure to work here. It’s great, I love it!’
She says that other patrons are proud that she is a volunteer.
Animal lover Hayley plans to volunteer some more, aims to become a Team Leader and encourage other patrons to join.
She would eventually like to find other ways to help in the community.
With up to a third of supported accommodation seekers women fleeing domestic violence, the link between homelessness and domestic violence is clear – and the need for assistance is pressing.
Rosies Gold Coast branch has been forging links with local DV services, including Assist A Sista, to help women to rebuild their lives and move back into the wider community.
While food parcels are a regular offering for Rosies on the Gold Coast, for women who are leaving a refuge and trying to establish themselves in a new home, Rosies offers something a little different.
Along with regular food parcels, volunteers put together ‘Pantry Boxes’ to help establish a woman in her new kitchen.
The boxes are intended to help defray the initial costs of setting up a pantry, containing larger items that are used frequently but replaced only occasionally.
Gold Coast Branch Coordinator Wendy Coe says the boxes are made up of pantry staples rather than fresh fruit or vegetables.
‘They’re more items like flour, sauces, coffee, sugar, spices, cake mixes, or even washing powder,’ she said.
‘Not just something to get you through the next few days – these are items which help to set up a home.
‘If you have to go out and buy them all at once, it’s quite expensive – and for someone who’s starting out again with very few resources, just being able to go to the cupboard and add a few dried herbs to a meal or whip up a batch of pikelets is a big thing.
‘Part of feeling like you’re really home is being able to do those small things without thinking.’
A partnership with Rosies intended to promote and maintain unity between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities has grown into a community-wide effort to feed Cairns’ homeless.
When Rosies Cairns branch coordinator Lyall Forde mentioned to Alma Mohammed he was looking for some volunteers to cook food for outreach, she thought she knew some women in the community who could help.
The biggest challenge ahead of her would be to raise money for ingredients.
Alma enlisted the help of her friend Renee Walker to come up with a solution – and from that partnership the Muslim Women’s Association of Far North Queensland was born.
‘Renee and I came up with the idea to create a market stall, which we have at the Gordonvale Markets once a month,’ Alma said.
‘It’s been great, and all of the food is homemade and cooked by women in the local community.
‘In fact, my mum has been doing most of the cooking!’
The pair sell home made sweets and pastries, with the proceeds used to buy ingredients to cook into meals for the homeless.
Those ingredients are then turned into meals which are distributed to Rosies patrons in Munro Martin Park once a month.
The Association’s stall has become a fixture at the markets, with the wider local community rallying around to support the fundraiser.
‘We have regulars, we take orders – we have people who come to Gordonvale from Cairns.
‘When we do miss a market, people send messages – “Where are you? Can I just give you the $10 instead?”’
The women were scheduled to provide meals to Rosies patrons on New Years Day, but there were no markets in December so no funds had been raised for ingredients.
The first of January was coincidentally also Alma’s daughter’s fourth birthday and she thought it would serve as the inspiration for a wonderful gesture of community spirit.
‘When I spoke to my 4 year old daughter, and said, “What would you like to do for your birthday?” she said, “We have to feed the homeless!”’
With that decided, the Association put out an appeal for food through their local mosque and then to the wider community.
The donations came flooding in, and a New Years Day banquet was assembled: roast chicken, crumbed Spanish mackerel, potato bake, and vegetable stew.
Festive fruit mince pies and quintessentially Australian lamingtons finished the meal, which was served to some of the local community’s most socially isolated individuals and families.
Most importantly, each person was provided with the opportunity to eat a hot meal from a plate in a communal environment of acceptance and friendship.
‘At the end of the night, everyone took away one or two meals with them – families with younger children took more,’ Alma said.
