Category: Uncategorized

‘Homelessness can happen to anyone. These men could be your father, brother, cousin, workmate or a friend. For the men who stay with us, Samaritan House is more than a house, it is a home. It is a hot meal and a seat at the table; it is a place to have a shower and wash clothes; it is a listening, caring and supportive ear and a place to rest and recover.

‘Besides me, everyone else is a volunteer and we are totally funded by the good people of Geelong. We don’t charge rent, but the men give back to us by helping around the house and in the vegetable garden. The men know that everyone is a volunteer and they are very respectful, it is all about mutual respect.’ We hear from Josephine who has run Samaritan House Geelong, since its inception 5 years ago.

‘Volunteers who sleep overnight range from Deakin University students to a man in his mid-80s. Schools loan their teachers to us and businessmen take monthly shifts. It is wonderful how it has gone ahead.

Continue reading “Samaritan House, Josephine” →

Talking with Kym Dillon is exciting. It’s hard to put your finger on why. It may be that he makes you feel closer to music, draws you into its space, so that you feel if you listen carefully enough to him some of music’s mysteries might be revealed.

Kym started playing piano at age seven and by the high school years was playing regularly in jazz bands. He was selected to perform as part of the VCE’s Top Class acts for outstanding musical performance and then was further selected for Top Acts, the best of the best across all performing arts.

Continue reading “With One Voice Choir, Kym” →

Very few people are able to say that they are not only following their dreams but meeting people with inspirational and renowned positions as they do so. Angie, however, is one of those people. Through her spectacular art she has been given the opportunity to meet multiple celebrities and share her abilities with them. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Matt Cohen and Tim Omundson (shown here) to name a few.

Her artwork – that is realistic in appearance beyond belief – has resulted in her always having a place to lay her head, no matter where it is that she goes. With a friendly demeanour, she can travel to plenty of different countries and still save money on accommodation while catching up with people who had previously only ever been behind a screen.

Continue reading “Bonejangless, Angie” →

Eat and They Shall Sleep, or more fondly known as EATSS was established in 2014 and is the brainchild of Donna Lindsay and Phoebe Wilkens. Phoebe tells us ‘We are best friends and wanted to start something together, yet we work in completely different fields – Donna is an Exercise Physiologist and runs a successful business and Phoebe is an historian and runs her own small research business – so finding a cohesive project was going to be somewhat challenging. EATSS brings together the integral need to nourish our bodies with nutritious food and the basic human right of a safe night’s sleep. Therefore, we sell a range of protein balls which have been created by Donna (and rolled by us both!) and for every 20 we sell we are able to purchase a mattress and/or sleeping equipment for an underprivileged child in Thailand.

‘We had travelled to Thailand a few times and had noticed that behind the smiles of the beautiful people of Thailand, who had always been so kind and accommodating, there was a heartbreaking level of poverty.  Sometimes you would see three or four children returning home to sleep on a thin mattress no larger than a single bed.

Continue reading “EATSS, Phoebe & Donna” →

Q & A with Gideon Haigh – You’ve written 32 books and have contributed to over 70 international publications. Please tell us what has inspired you and led to your success?

I’m not sure I’d claim success; I’ve simply stayed quite busy, and remained interested in and challenged by what I do.  My work isn’t just a living.  It’s a craft and a trade, at which I’ve consistently wanted to be a little bit better than I was yesterday. Quite simple really.

Can you share a couple of your most exciting experiences?

The exciting experiences are difficult to explain. What most people find exciting – publication, awards, good reviews etc –  I don’t. I like the springs of intimacy, where you wrest a hard-won memory from an interviewer, or find a neglected document. Today I looked at the inquest of an 18yo girl who died in 1929 from a botched abortion, whose body was found in a culvert in Langwarrin. It brought a tear to my eye to feel so connected to a figure so forgotten; I thought of her family’s grief; her friends’ guilt; the hideous trap of shame and ignorance. In the context of the book I’m writing I can give that death some belated meaning. It’s a kind of honour.

Continue reading “Author, Gideon Haigh” →

Anam Cara House Geelong started as a dream – that of Founder, Diane Wright. Through many years of effort, Diane’s vision of creating a respite and palliative care facility in a homelike environment has been realised. The term ‘hospice’ means ‘a resting place’ and it was envisaged that this facility would provide quality residential respite care in a home-like environment. The building was kindly donated by The Archdiocese of Melbourne, with many thanks to the vision of Father Kevin Dillon, and the generosity of The Parish of St. Mary’s Geelong. Anam Cara House is the name for the hospice – ‘anam cara’ is the Gaelic term for ‘soul friends’.

Capital funds for renovating the site were raised from generous donations from the Geelong community, a Federal government grant, and philanthropic trusts. Alana, Anam Cara’s Community Engagement Coordinator gave me a tour of this beautiful home.

Continue reading “Anam Cara House, Alana” →

‘I was a Girl Guide myself and I’ve been volunteering with Girl Guides for nearly 40 years. We want everyone out there to know that Girl Guides is an amazing opportunity for girls to experience personal skill development, leadership and a whole lot of fun.’ We hear from Helen Carruthers, the District Manager of the Greater Geelong Region and Lorraine Otway, the Region Manager of the Barwon South Western Region. Lorraine has been involved for 25 years since her daughter started as a Girl Guide.

‘Girls often like doing things where boys are not involved, there is no peer pressure. They are aged 5 – 18. They meet once a week but when school gets busy for the older ones, they sometimes come fortnightly. There are about 130 guides in Geelong. Unfortunately, this is about half the amount compared to 5 years ago. Of those who stay to 18, encouragingly, quite a few stay on to become Leaders themselves.

Continue reading “Girl Guides Geelong, Lorraine & Helen” →

Could the tropical fruit mangosteen lead to a breakthrough in Mental Health? A team of researchers, led by Michael Berk, from Deakin University Geelong are on the case. Michael is ranked the number three expert on bipolar disorder in the world by expertscape.com (guide to the world’s medical brain trust) and he calls the Geelong region home.

Michael is the Director of IMPACT and is a South African-born Australian with an interesting story. He’s now leading a large research team at Deakin from humble beginnings in 2001. He was headhunted to be the inaugural Chair of Psychiatry at Barwon Health and The Geelong Clinic through Melbourne University at a time that both organisations were in their academic infancy. However, the institutional support, and most importantly, the collegial, supportive and community-minded spirit of Geelong provided very fertile soil for the development of a fledgling research team.

Continue reading “Deakin’s Michael Berk” →

Ever since 1890 Cottage by the Sea, Queenscliff, has been a not-for-profit charity that provides a homely place for disadvantaged children to take a break from their lives. With their 127^th anniversary imminent, they are taking in an average of 1,500 children a year as they work to help children in need, over the three different programs that they run. It is also where Lachie Baulch was lucky enough to find his life’s calling.

Currently having worked with Cottage by the Sea for two and a half years, his responsibilities have been slowly evolving leaving him with a job that he loves. Being able to work with and meet amazing children who are inspiring with the way that they lead their lives, is a great joy to him and they are nothing short of an inspiration themselves.

Continue reading “Cottage by the Sea, Lachie” →