Yesterday I met with the Australian National Skills Commission with the goal of initiating changes in the employment landscape that will see more jobs available for people with housing insecurity and those experiencing homelessness. More needs to be done to address the individual employment needs of those who need extra supports put in place, who want to and are ready to work. We must have these conversations now so we will see a future where being unhoused is not a barrier to finding accessible, purposeful and enjoyable employment. This is just the beginning but we are starting to get a […]
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Melbourne we cannot thank you enough. We put a call out for Christmas presents for kids who will otherwise receive nothing for Christmas due to many factors such as homelessness, poverty and the devastating effects of Covid, and in just a matter of days we raised enough money to buy gifts for 100 of our target of 250 children. These toys and gifts will all be going to Stevenson House to support families in Caroline Springs, Melton and Taylor’s Lakes area. We will be dropping them off to Catrice and her incredible team first thing tomorrow morning. We still have […]
I was absolutely thrilled to be on this weeks episode of Too Peas In A Podcast. It wasan incredible honour and so much fun. Click the link to hear how the charity got started, an impossible cat situation an reasons why charitable people should be able to swear too! https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/too-peas-in-a-podcast/id1470294201?i=1000499252287
A couple of days ago we received an urgent email from an organisation who was looking after a middle aged woman who was sleeping rough. Hannah needed a place fast and she needed literally everything to go with it because she didn’t have a thing to her name. As soon as her house was sorted we went and seen our friends at Furniture & Mattress Depot where Vance sorted us out with some incredible bargains for an entire house of furniture for Hannah including 2 x 2 seater couches, a queen sized bed, tall boy, dining suite and TV stand […]
The Dan Andrews government this morning announced $5.2b in funding to build 12,000 new social housing units which will create around 18,000 new jobs. Whist this is absolutely fantastic news and something we have been lobbying for since we started this charity almost 6 years ago, we have still forgotten one fundamental flaw in the system. These jobs that will be created will mostly not be suitable for those living within the turmoil and chaos that homelessness and domestic violence brings. We believe in the housing first model but until we give a person back their sense of purpose we […]
If you’re stuck for what to buy someone for our Christmas appeal here are a few ideas that might help. This isn’t an exhaustive list so by all means please feel free to donate anything else you feel someone would like! 🚫Please note though we cannot accept:Second hand or used giftsAlcohol of any kindGifts associated with violence such as guns and swords.Gifts of cultural appropriation such as Native American dress up, Golliwogs etcGifts with rude or abusive slogansPerishable items 🎄Thank you so much for helping us make Christmas a magical time for these families. Www.nhcollective.org.au/xmas2020
Today I had the privilege of speaking to 400+ year 8, 9 and 10 students about the work I do with the charity. I also spoke about what it’s like to be an Indigenous person in today’s world and how the stolen generation still has a huge ripple effect on people today. Our First Nations people were wonderful story tellers and passed down 65,000 years of traditions, culture, history and lore around campfires, on long treks and on river banks to make sure new generations learned the ways of the land and the stories of the Dreamtime. 65,000 years, and […]
Always was, always will be. NAIDOC Week 2020 In 2019, 3.57% of Indigenous peoples were experiencing homelessness compared to 1.2% on non Indigenous Australians. This means that 1 in 28 of all Aboriginal peoples have nowhere safe and suitable to live on our own land. If it always was and always will be Aboriginal land, why are so many Aboriginal people still displaced and still not being given the opportunity to live their days in peace in a place of their own? When I started @Sisters in Safe Housing to support women experiencing homelessness to access safe, suitable and timely […]
Today we started our annual Christmas appeal to make sure children and families doing it tough can still enjoy Christmas this year. When we first started helping families at Christmas it was just a few gifts and vouchers to those experiencing homelessness. Now we collect and send gifts all over the country. There are still so many people and places forgotten and suffering at Christmas time. This year our first goal is to help 250 families, and our second goal is to help 250 more! We’re not a funded charity. We simply rely on the good hearts of the people […]
Everyone has a right to safe, suitable and engaging employment. But rarely do we make space for people experiencing homelessness to join the work force. Homelessness is chaotic. No two days are the same , but even amongst the chaos of navigating homelessness many people still want to work. The problem is that most workplaces do not accommodate the differing needs of people in unstable housing. They don’t take into account that for the most part this cohort won’t be able to start and finish at regular times. They may need more time off work, they may not be able […]
Content warning: #Mentions #domesticviolence, #police, #guns, #hospital, #trauma. I remember two police officers standing between me and him, and I still didn’t feel safe. I could still feel the blows coming down even though they’d stopped hours ago. I could feel the burning sting on my head where he’d pulled my hair out, and the raw meaty taste of blood in my mouth through the opened wound on the inside of my cheek where he’d punched me in the side of my face. The unrelenting throbbing in my head where he’d kicked me I don’t know how many times. He […]