Appeal: Winter Night Shelter is calling for volunteers and community donations to care for the most vulnerable in the community during the harshest months. (From left) Jan Borzillo, Kim O'Keeffe and Mary-Ann Demase.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Winter Night Shelter is set to run for the second year in a row to provide beds and warm meals for the most vulnerable in our community.
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There are seven locations that host up to 10 guests for one night a week each from June 1 until August 31.
Guests can get a safe, warm night’s sleep and a hot meal during the coldest months of the year without judgment or stigma.
Winter Night Shelter is hoping for at least 100 volunteers this year, but the initiative will need more to ensure the service runs smoothly.
“It might just be a few hours once a week on the breakfast shift or assisting with the lunch program or joining the varied night shifts. There are many choices to how you could volunteer,” assistant project manager Kim O’Keeffe said.
Along with volunteers, Cr O’Keeffe, who is also the City of Greater Shepparton Mayor, said the initiative was calling for more funding from the community.
“The smallest amounts make such a difference,” she said.
Shepparton doesn’t have a stand-alone homeless shelter, and this community-driven initiative is the first step in providing meaningful support to the unheard and invisible in our community who are sleeping rough.
Winter Night Shelter: More than 100 volunteers will work over 12 weeks to provide food and shelter to the homeless during the winter months. (From left) Jan Borzillo, Kim O'Keeffe and Mary-Ann Demase.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
To that end, the service has been extended to provide shelter and meals during the day.
“It's really hard to take them out of a warm shelter, drop them off and say ‘back to the cold’,’’ project committee member Mary-Ann Demase said.
Volunteer Jen Borzillo said it was even harder to say goodbye at the end of the 12 weeks.
“The end of the three months is heartbreaking too,” she said.
“But you know that they've got so much out of it. You've got so much out of it. And we know we've helped them for the worst time.”
Cr O’Keeffe said Shepparton definitely needed a permanent homeless shelter, and there were so many in the community that were willing to see that happen.
But to develop a successful shelter like the one being developed in Melbourne city, there needed to be an effective network of services to support those in the shelter, she said.
The Victorian budget has allocated funding for the planned building of a emergency department hub in Shepparton for people experiencing serious mental health, alcohol and drug issues.
But Cr O’Keeffe said at this stage it was unclear whether there would be supported accommodation for the homeless.
“There's progress, but we're doing our bit and at some point there'll be more support,” she said.
Many people facing financial stress or insecure housing have fallen through the cracks of the social safety net because of mental illness.
Anecdotally, the volunteers at Winter Night Shelter found a major barrier that held their guests out of access to support services was lacking the correct paperwork.
Winter Night Shelter is already taking the first steps in providing more support.
It is moving beyond just hot meals and clean beds by helping to empower guests to improve their life situations and get help with any issues that are holding them out of the system.
“Last year, we really got to help a lot of homeless people, whether it's back to getting birth certificates, getting their Centrelink (sorted), getting medical support,” Cr O’Keeffe said.
“Those things that can get them back to having some really important services and get the support that they need.
“So other than providing obviously the shelter at night, the meals, the friendship ... our role really is you know, just seeing where we can support them during the program.
If you would like information on volunteering, call Mel on: 5821 2666.
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