Some of you will know long-term Hamer reso Nick Rice. I am very sorry to report that Nick was killed in a road accident on Monday afternoon. Resos and Hamer management alike appear to be coping quite well with absorbing this very sad news.
Category Archives: Houses
SCH Facebook page
Please have a look at the latest story of SCH Facebook page – Anthony Antoniadis, one of the 2 Scotch College students who authored Anthology reflects on his time compiling the book for in an article written for Melbourne’s Greek newspaper. It’s a special article – nice to know that the experience impacted him so. Both boys, Anthony and Jeremy, were great to work with – you might recall them both being very moved on the night of the Anthology launch? I occasionally bump into Anthony at the gym these days! He’s a lovely chap.
CCB Budget 16/17
Our CCB budget for 16/17 has been approved by the Dept. This now enables us to start work on some of the bathroom areas in need of repair at Carrical.
Wayne Cowen
As Servants grows I can never keep up with who from ‘the outside world’ knows who from within our houses.
I was informed today that former Carrical reso Wayne Cowen passed away yesterday with liver failure being the cause. Wayne only move out of Carrical in June to move back to the country. We housed him for 2 and a half years. He was 53 years young. He was a quiet, gentle and pleasant, if slightly troubled, soul. He caused us next to no problems in his time with us. All very sad.
Mattress memory …………
I HeartBeated yesterday re Ben Palmer being in hospital. Late last night I was talking with Ben’s Dad, our former Chairperson, Dave Palmer.
I filled Dave in a wee bit re how Servants is travelling at this time. Dave reminded me of a story I believe is worth sharing with you all. I cannot remember exactly when Dave was Chairperson – perhaps 2002/03? At that time we only had Carrical of course ….. available funds for essential purchases were somewhere in the realms of being non-existent ….. and we desperately needed new mattresses for resos. Dave had heard that there was a hard rubbish collection in the Box Hill area. Figuring that reasonable quality, thrown out mattresses were better than those some our resos were sleeping on we drove our wagons to Box Hill late one Sunday night to pick up the best 4 or 5 hard rubbish mattresses we could find!! I remember being pretty excited with our haul!! Whilst being in the tragic/comedic area of things it does show how far we have come in more recent years ….. and also the passion and drive that helped keep us afloat during some pretty traumatic years.
There are one or two other stories from this period of our history which equally demonstrate passion and drive …………… yet I find myself, oddly, too embarrassed and ashamed to share these with you all.
Ben Palmer
Many of you will know Ben Palmer, one of our Housekeepers at Romana. Ben has previously had some very serious health issues involving his brain (I will not even pretend to understand the complexities of this issue.) Ben informed Amanda and me this morning that he was aware that all was not right with his physical health in this regard and that he was headed into hospital. We know that he has been admitted to hospital.
Please pray for Ben.
Templestowe
Monday morning Amanda and I went to Templestowe to view the former SRS that is currently empty and that we could possibly consider asking the Dept to lease/purchase under the Rapid Housing Assistance Fund. It was a fascinating visit that left us both with more questions than answers. Regardless of whether we decide to pursue this property or not is has been an intriguing process to go through (we still are going through it) as we consider the future of Servants.
30th
Our Birthday party is now over – but the effects and outcomes of it will be seen long into the future. From my position as CEO I thought it was a stunning success. The feedback to date has been wonderful – most importantly of all the residents LOVED the occasion. We have yet to do an official count but it appears that slightly inxs of 1 in 3 current SCH resos attended the party. Ace!!
Connie, Madeline and I will be reviewing the occasion later this week.
Just over 800 bucks was donated to Servants on the night itself – not of course that it was about donations – but I guess all gifts help with the costs.
Thank you so much to all committee members and staff who contributed to making it such a special, celebratory evening. I would be really pleased to hear others reflections on the night – especially highlights.
Visions
Some of you will know Visions Gym in Burwood Rd, Hawthorn (shameless plug here – it is such a well-priced gym and is almost completely devoid of the kind of morons one typically finds in most gyms) Visions has been very good to Servants over a number of years – providing us with free or as good as free exercise bikes and treadmills for the houses. They also sponsored our team shirt at last year’s Run Melbourne event. Over the past 12 months a handful of our resos have been given free memberships by Visions – one reso has particularly established a regime as a gym bunny. In the week just past 2 Carrical resos entered the hallowed, sweaty halls of the gym for the first time for their induction session. Both were thrilled to have been provided with such an opportunity (one had not done any gym work since he last holidayed at the pleasure of Her Majesty a few years back!!) As they both puffed on their after-gym-session cigarettes (well earned I’m sure!!) it was a delight to hear them talk about just having the opportunity to do something as simple as visit a gym because Servants can make it happen. I am sure many more resos will enter Visions in the coming months to work out. I see this as a small yet very significant example of the tangible add-ons we can bring into the lives our 89.
Roof
Exciting news from Carrical is that after MUCH delay the scaffold has been erected and maintenance on the roof/gutters etc will commence next Monday. Great news!!
Council types
The other day 3 Boroondara employees spent a couple of hours with me looking at our houses, talking with some of our resos and Housekeepers ……… and generally just wanted to clarify and confirm for themselves the good things they had head about Servants – which was nice!! They were from Safer Communities/Social Planning area of Council.
As an immediate result of their visit a speaking opportunity has arisen for me at Council later in the year.
I believe our reputation within Council at the present time is stronger than it has ever previously been – and I do not think we have ever struggled in this regard!
More ……….
Lisa, sister of Romana reso Jaimie, sent out a loooooong email to her friends and acquaintances about the journey of her brother – and asking said people to consider sponsoring Jaimie in Run Melbourne. The following paragraph is pretty glowing about SCH – please enjoy and be encouraged by it.
‘He’s raising funds for the wonderful community housing organisation where he lives, Servant’s. I shudder to think where we’d be at if they hadn’t of entered our lives. They provide him with so much more than just shelter: a genuine sense of community and belonging. Please consider sponsoring him, even a small amount helps and most importantly – it reminds him that there are people rooting for him. This is direct as charity gets!’
Elvis
Like Elvis before them ………… the Halls have left the building. The Romana building that is. What great service the Halls have given to Servants – as Housekeepers at both Carrical and Romana, both as committee members, Brian as Chair, various sub-committees and small groups and generally, well, just a great example to us all of what servanthood is all about.
Soooooooo, how did Matt and Amanda go about replacing them? First and foremost we recognized that finding another couple just like the Halls was not going to happen – so we looked to younger, single men. Three young men, Ben Palmer, Alan Morrison and James Turnbull have now moved into Romana and have commenced their tasks as Housekeepers. Ben and Al are already very well known to us (they have worked with us for years already and last year they managed Hamer together beautifully as the Donohoes took a break) whilst James is new to The Wonderful World of Servants. We are very much looking forward to seeing these guys make their mark upon Romana. They are moving in at an incredibly stable time in the life of the house. Please pray for these men as they commence their tasks at the house.
Off track
You might have seen on the news tonight the article about the tram coming off the tracks on High Street, Kew? This was close to Hamer. You perhaps saw one of our Hamer resos, Saade, being interviewed about the incident!! He certainly had a few minutes of fame today!!
Enjoy.
We recently took in a new reso to Hamer – Wayne. The text below is from an email I received today from his worker – I hope that this puts much wind in the collective sails of all who read Heartbeat. We know that our work is appreciated – but it it lovely when this is articulated.
Hi Matt,
Just wanted to say thanks again for housing Wayne. I think we are lucky and I am appreciative that places like Servants exist to provide housing for those who are experiencing disadvantage in our community. I hope Wayne is settling in nicely and all is well.
Kind regards
Greg Solomon
Caseworker
Flagstaff Crisis Accommodation – The Salvation Army
OTG and Trinity in general.
Ok, listen up folks – it is far too painful to keep typing Old Trinity Grammarians. As of now I decree that it is OTG. If anyone in future asks me ‘what is this OTG caper all about old chap’ I will direct them back to this post and take it as conclusive evidence that they have failed to read said post!! I am keen at this point to type something about ‘rolling pins’ and ‘relentlessly beating people’ ….. but I won’t.
This evening I attended the monthly board meeting of OTG (You’ve got it! Good work!!) as a guest to talk about the burgeoning relationship between SCH and OTG/the broader Trinity community. I was particularly asking them to become involved in Team Servants ’16. The response was favorable.
On a slightly different Trinity angle – another group of Year 9 boys, 6 in total, visited Romana yesterday to host a lunchtime BBQ for/with our resos. These Monday gatherings are always fun and beneficial …….. but the gathering yesterday was one for the ages. I now regret not taking some happy snaps and posting them of the Servants Facebook page. The banter and the cross-pollination between the 2 groups was insanely good – just an incredibly special time. One of those occasions where it didn’t matter if you were a privileged schoolboy or a Servants reso – everybody was truly all the one. At moments such as these I feel incredibly blessed to do what I do for a living.
House Rule changes @ Hamer
Hamer has had some rather unsavory incidents for management to deal with in recent times. Management has reached the, possibly inevitable, conclusion that for the sake and safety of residents and staff present and future that the house needs to become alcohol free. This comes into being as a 2-stage process. From the middle of next week alcohol may only be consumed in the privacy of one’s bedroom (as is the situation at Carrical) and from 1st February 2016 Hamer will be a dry house. Might there be some fallout and might we lose a few residents along the way? Yes to both questions, absolutely. But the short term pain will rapidly be outweighed by the advantages moving forwards.
Community Dinner #1
Saturday night we held the inaugural Community Dinner at Hamer. The visitors were a group from Trinity Grammar – current staff and old boys. It was a great success. We will be looking to host further Dinners there in the coming weeks.
VCAT
I recently informed you via Heartbeat of the troublesome reso we were encountering at Carrical. We issued the gentleman with a Notice to Vacate but, upon legal advice, we have withdrawn this Notice. The reso in question has since let himself down badly once again and we have now issued a fresh Notice to Vacate. We have asked him to ensure he has vacated the property this coming Thursday at the latest. It is highly unlikely that he will vacate by this time; if he doesn’t we will apply to VCAT for a Possession Order.
It is 8 years since we have been to VCAT – that being with the legendary Gavin Rouse case. It will be sad to see this record broken – but needs must.
Carrical reso. Probable VCAT.
Since our last visits to VCAT in, I think, 2007, we have done all we can to avoid heading back there. We have become creative and expert in finding ways to avoid the lottery that is the Residential Tenancies Act section of VCAT. However, it appears most likely that we will be headed back to VCAT in the very near future. We are in the process of removing a Carrical resident; he has been informed that he has until 5.00pm this Thursday to exit – and has already informed us that he has no intention of doing so. With this particular gentleman there is little point in adopting creative means to encourage him to leave – he is just not built that way. I will keep you abreast of developments via Heartbeat; in the meantime your prayers would be appreciated for all concerned in this matter. Thanks.