WA charities keeping people off the streets

Hearts and Minds highlights the important work not-for-profit organisations are doing across WA for ‘Include a Charity Week’, from 4-10 September 2023.

There are more than a dozen charities in the Hearts and Minds community – Accordwest, Activ Foundation, Anglicare WA, Foodbank WA, Good Sammy, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Royal Flying Doctor Service, St Bart’s, St John Ambulance, Uniting WA, Variety WA, The Y, and zero2hero.

Without corporate, individual and government support, these charitable organisations wouldn’t be able to achieve the work they do to help the community.

Providing crisis accommodation across WA

Run by co-CEOs Michael Chester and Jen Park, Uniting WA provides homelessness and crisis accommodation services, family and children’s services, mental health and disability support, and financial wellbeing services.

“All organisations are seeing their services stretched to the maximum due to skyrocketing demand,” they said.

“Our homelessness services are seeing unprecedented demand and it’s the generous support of the public which allows us to keep such services running.”

People can donate, volunteer, fundraise, leave a gift in their will, or round up a team from work or community group to participate in a team building activity at the Uniting WA Tranby Engagement Hub.

“Participants learn firsthand about the issues that lead to homelessness, hear from lived experience speakers and then join a fun team activity to compete in a cooking challenge,” they said.

“Our corporate team building activity is a great way for work groups to enjoy a fun day out together while doing something intrinsically worthwhile for the vulnerable in our community.

“The meals cooked help feed the 200-plus people experiencing homelessness that turn up at Tranby daily.”

See how you can get involved with Uniting WA, whether it’s by donating, volunteering, fundraising, leaving a gift in your will, or with a team building activity.

Removing the social stigma of homelessness

St Bart's works with a number of private and social enterprises to create employment opportunities for people who have experienced or are at risk of homelessness.

By working with organsations such as St Bart’s, companies can combat the negative social stigma and social exclusion that people experience as a result of homelessness.

"When we are engaging with the private sector, we see every conversation as an opportunity to advocate for the sector, to raise the profile of the work we do, share our message about the reality of homelessness, and explore opportunities for employment and, in many instances, secure funding for programs such as our Reconnecting Lives Program," St Bart's CEO Sam Drury said. 

The Reconnecting Lives Program provides support for people as they move from short-term accommodation to a long-term stable home.

"Through collaborating with organisations such as St Bart’s, businesses can make significant strides towards interrupting the harmful cycle between homelessness and unemployment, creating opportunities, improving morale and changing lives along the way."

St Bart’s is one of Perth’s leading not-for-profit providers of accommodation and outreach services for vulnerable Western Australians experiencing or at risk of homelessness, mental health challenges, trauma and hardship.

Find out more about how you can get involved with St Bart's.

Stay in the loop with what the not-for-profit sector is doing across WA with Hearts and Minds articles published weekly on Business News.