3 of the 24 Romana vacancies have now been taken.
In April we will welcome Big Jim, Norrie and Jaime to the new house. All were thrilled with the accommodation and are really looking forward to moving in.
Team Servants ’14 update
Last week the total of runners for Team Servants ’14 DOUBLED. I know, impressive eh? We went from Matt to Matt and Zoe!! We are on our way!
I am so looking forward to this latest adventure. I am hoping that we will be able to encourage to even more resos to participate than last year – I am also hopeful that we will be able to raise significant $$$$ for Servants.
Thoughts sought ………
Our initial print run of Anthology was 5300. We then has another 5000 copies printed. There are about 3000 copies currently remaining.
I am looking for input into how many copies of Narrative we should look to produce when the time comes. I am thinking a minimum of 10,000 copies – possibly stretching to 15,000 – remembering that the price per unit decreases significantly with the more copies we print.
Your input would be appreciated!
Winning over the ignorant
I received a call last week from an alleged psychologist from the Salvos. She was unfamiliar with our work and was looking to place someone in housing with us. I was told in no uncertain terms that the rent we were charging was outrageous! It took me about 5 minutes but she came to see pretty quickly that what we offer is incredible value for money in stark comparison to what the majority of folks in rooming houses pay. She was so impressed that she now wants to visit to see for herself! Servants 1 Alleged Psychologist 0.
First for Romana
This Tuesday I have my first prospective reso interview AT Romana. This is a very definite step towards starting to operate there.
Carrical welcomes Phil
I Pulsed last week that Bart Majoor left Carrical – he was replaced today by Phil. Phil has been at Ozanam House in North Melbourne for many months awaiting a vacancy at Carrical. Hopefully he will make the very best of this opportunity. Amongst other things Phil is a Big Issue seller.
Ozanam House continue to be a wonderful connection for us in terms of finding resos; this relationship was established during our early days in Canterbury.
Bart
Bart Majoor, brother of Conrad and reasonably long-term Canterbury and Carrical reso moved out on Tuesday of this week. His intended replacement made a last minute decision not to move in. A new reso replaces Bart next Monday. A rarity occurs here with several empty room nights being accumulated.
Narrative
I have been in touch with Southern Colour – the mob who printed both editions of Anthology – and that have provided me with various quotes for various quantities of the new book. My initial idea is that we should print between 10,000 and 20,000 copies.
I had a very productive meeting with Balwyn Rotary yesterday morning and they will explore within their Club the idea of sponsoring all costs associated with the publishing of the book. Watch this space …………………
One year on …………..
Carlos passed away on 30th January 2013. Last night Amanda, myself and 10 residents spent a few minutes after dinner reflecting on the life and loss of Carlos. It was a very special time and some equally special thoughts were expressed.
I rang Cathy and Mr. Mascaro Snr last night to let them know that they are, and will always be, in the thoughts of Servants.
Interviews galore!
The demand for Servants’ housing remains as high as ever. The really excellent news is that as Carrical and Hamer remain full with very few vacancies that people are starting to line up to be housed by us at Romana.
I am quietly confident that we are going to get Romana off to a terrific start when the time comes.
Property Condition Report
As we approach the signing (or otherwise) of the General Lease for the next 5 years at Carrical from 1st July 2014 I can report that we have hired the services of Steve Skurnik to undertake a full condition report of Carrical.
This report will be ready for viewing and consideration by the committee at the upcoming 10th February committee meeting.
Steve Skurnik is the architect involved in the Romana renovations.
Press release
A couple of weeks ago, with the help of a journalist contact of Amanda’s, I wrote my first press release. I talked about Servants and our model of housing – especially in light of the recent stabbing death of homeless man, ‘Mousey,’ in the city. Sadly, there were no takers on this occasion. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that jazz …………………
Latest reading
I’m currently reading Brene Brown’s bestseller ‘Daring Greatly.’ Brown has some of the most watched TED talks ever and an overview of this book can be found on TED.
An extract from the book is Theodore Roosevelt’s speech delivered at the Sorbonne in 1910:
‘It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.’
This quote resonates with me in many ways. I love being in the ‘arena’ of Servants. As 2014 develops I look forward to embracing the ‘dust and sweat and blood’ of the tasks at hand. I trust too that this year in Servants will prove to be full of value and satisfaction for all involved.
Narrative book launch
So, we don’t as yet have a new book (this will come together nicely thru the first half of the year)But we do have a launch date, launch venue (Friday 24th October at Hawthorn Town Hall) and we also have Josh Frydenberg and the Boroondara Mayor, Coral Ross, to help us launch this latest production.
Now, all I need to do is produce a book …………………………..
We have received our Annual Review from the Registrar
Minutes of the October 2013 committee meeting
2014 Annual Agenda
Here is the annual agenda for the committee. 2014 Annual Agenda_Final
Vacancy!!
Shock and horror! We have a vacancy about to occur. A resident is leaving Carrical to move into a transitional housing opportunity. Hopefully this will be a good move for him. We would be more than happy to house him again in the future if the need arose. The next resident to move in has been waiting since May 2013 to be housed by us.
General Lease
There is some good progress to report in regards to Servants outsourcing the majority of our maintenance requirements in order to be prepared to sign the new General Lease in time for 1st July.
Amanda and I met with Yarra Community Housing prior to Christmas and today with t2m, the maintenance arm of St Kilda Community Housing. Both groups are more than well equipped to deal with our maintenance needs.
We aim to bring a proposal to committee at the 10th February committee meeting.
Hamer management update
With most of the current Hamer management team away on holidays the Halls have moved into Hamer for a couple of weeks.
Although there remains no clear pathway forward for the future management model of Hamer post the current team there has been some momentum over the past couple of weeks. Knowing precisely what we would like the management model to look like, and finding that it is not quite eventuating as desired, Amanda and I have commenced looking at alternate management structures for Hamer. This has been proving to be of great value.
I look forward to keeping you abreast of developments as and when they occur.