Annual Report 2009-2010 • 3 6.30AM I Wake up All Wet
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St Vincent de Paul Society NSW 2009-2010 AnnuAl RepoRt The Annual Report of the St Vincent de Paul Society NSW is produced by the Community and Corporate Relations Team of the St Vincent de Paul Society NSW, November 2010. Written by: Marion Frith, Communications Manager Edited by: Julie McDonald, Manager, Community and Corporate Relations, [email protected] Design by: Claudia Williams, Publications and Design Coordinator, [email protected] Statistics collated by: Jey Natkunaratnam, Senior Statistics Officer, [email protected] Responsibility for this document rests with the Provisional Board of the St Vincent de Paul Society NSW. Privacy Statement: Because the St Vincent de Paul Society NSW respects the privacy of the people it serves, the names of any clients featured in this report have been changed and pictorial models used. Distributed by Ozanam Industries, www.ozanam.org.au, a Special Work of the St Vincent de Paul Society NSW St Vincent de Paul Society NSW ABN: 46 472 591 335 Auditor: Grant Thornton Bank: Commonwealth Bank of Australia Solicitor: Hunt & Hunt CONTENTS CONTENTS 1.0 Message from the Cardinal.......................................................... 5 2.0 Message from the Chair ............................................................... 7 3.0 Introduction ................................................................................... 8 3.1 Membership and Assistance ..................................................... 10 Central Councils 4.1 Armidale ...................................................................................... 12 4.2 Bathurst ....................................................................................... 13 4.3 Broken Bay .................................................................................. 14 4.4 Lismore ........................................................................................ 15 4.5 Maitland/Newcastle .................................................................... 16 4.6 Parramatta .................................................................................. 17 4.7 Sydney .......................................................................................... 18 4.8 Wagga Wagga .............................................................................. 19 4.9 Wilcannia/Forbes ........................................................................ 20 4.10 Wollongong .................................................................................. 21 Special Works and other services 5.0 Matthew Talbot Homeless Services .......................................... 22 6.0 Family Services ........................................................................... 27 7.0 Food Services .............................................................................. 32 8.0 Vinnies Centres ........................................................................... 33 9.0 Migrants and Refugees .............................................................. 34 10.0 SPARK .......................................................................................... 36 11.0 Overseas Partnership and Development .................................. 37 12.0 Disability Services ....................................................................... 38 13.0 Mental Health .............................................................................. 39 13.1 Compeer ...................................................................................... 40 14.0 Disaster Recovery ....................................................................... 41 15.0 Youth Services ............................................................................. 42 16.0 Youth and Young Adults .............................................................. 43 17.0 Social Justice ............................................................................... 44 18.0 Volunteers .................................................................................... 45 Business operations 19.0 Operations ................................................................................... 46 20.0 Supporters ................................................................................... 48 21.0 Finance ........................................................................................ 50 Annual Report 2009-2010 • 3 6.30AM I wake up all wet. My sister’s wet our bed again. 8.30AM I don’t like walking to school but there’s no petrol. 12.30PM The teacher asks me where my lunch is. I don’t have any. 4.00PM I don’t want mum to be sad, I wish dad would come back. 5.30PM People from Vinnies give us food, now we can eat. 6.00PM My tummy hasn’t felt this happy in ages. Sam’s day. Aged 6. Help make tomorrow a better day. Donate now call 13 18 12 or visit www.vinnies.org.au al N ardi C E h T m m O fr E 1.0 ag ess A MESSAGE from m ThE CArDINAL Dear friends, This year the St Vincent de Paul Society has continued to reach out to the marginalised and disadvantaged across NSW, fulfilling its mission to live the Gospel message by serving Christ in the poor with love, and working to shape a more just and compassionate society. It has continued its good works in many ways, bringing hope and opportunity to those who have lost both: the homeless, the lonely, the ill and the down-trodden. It has assisted men, women and children, offering them the love and support they need to climb out of the darkness and into a new beginning. The year has been a challenging one in both the cities in the country. Rising rents and costs of living have placed considerable pressures on families, rendering more people homeless or at grave risk of homelessness. Thank God the drought has broken in many parts of NSW. Migrants and refugees have found themselves in the midst of an often divisive debate. Within that landscape the Society has continued to work towards justice and charity. It has delivered its good works to whomever has needed them. It has done that, of course, with the support of its thousands of members, volunteers and donors who believe the world can only be what we strive to make it. I would like to extend my thanks and the thanks of the Catholic community to the St Vincent de Paul Society for the work it does. To walk among the poor is to walk with Christ, and my prayers and good wishes go to all Vincentians who make that journey. George Cardinal Pell Archbishop of Sydney Annual Report 2009-2010 • 5 hair C E h T m m O fr E ag ess 2.0 m A MESSAGE from ThE Chair Dear friends, and financial assistance; counselling and guidance; settlement services to migrants The 2009-2010 financial year was another and refugees; the operation of our beloved busy one for the St Vincent de Paul Society. Centres; and the care of children. This It was a year in which the demand for is just the tip of the iceberg and these services continued to increase, as more more formal services are, of course, and more individuals and families found underpinned by the less visible work themselves struggling under the rising our Conference members do in visiting costs of living. people in their homes, the bedrock of the Vincentian mission. People who have never needed assistance before, and never imagined they ever During 2009-2010 the Society would, turned to us, confused and enthusiastically endorsed a proposal to humiliated that they could no longer put hold a series of Congress meetings for food on the table or keep a roof over their Vincentians to become renewed in faith, family’s heads. They were victims of the to recommit themselves to serve the poor economic downturn, sky rocketing rents with love and to contribute to planning and rising prices for groceries, power for, and building, the future of the Society: and other essentials, and our services to reignite the fire that was lit by our experienced an increase in the number of founder Frederic Ozanam and his young these newly poor. companions. These were held in the latter half of 2010. Our services also continued to see a rise in the sad trend of families facing These Congresses go to the fact the St homelessness for the first time. At Vincent de Paul Society is a movement; not Vincentian House, our family centre which a corporation or a static institution. It is a has been operating for just one year, there gathering, albeit a large and international was an increase in the numbers of two- one, of people who are doing Christ’s work parent families and the inter-generational by helping those who need it. This report poor who had been unable to sustain their details that work; it is work of which I am tenancies in the private rental market. The incredibly proud. service has been turning away 40 referrals a month. Indeed, all our homeless services On behalf of those who allow us to assist have been operating at full capacity; them, I thank our members, volunteers, testimony to the fact the need within the staff, supporters, benefactors, trusts and community remains profound. foundations that make it possible. I never cease to be overwhelmed by the diversity and commitment of the work that is done in the name of the St Vincent de Paul Society. As you will see as you read through this report, this work includes providing accommodation to the homeless Beverley Kerr and food to the hungry; emotional, material Chair, Provisional Board Annual Report 2009-2010 • 7 ON i UCT d O r NT 3.0 i Our mission The St Vincent de Paul Society is a lay Catholic organisation that aspires to live the Gospel message by serving Christ in the poor with love,