Two Year 9 boys from Trinity, Nathan and Kyle, have just finished a week of work experience with Servants. The boys were terrific – helping in ways including some tasks in the office, some cleaning at Hamer, market shopping and generally being available to participate at the houses when required. They had a good week and certainly had their eyes opened to a different side of life!!
Ben Palmer reflection
I recently posted something from Al – temporary Housekeeper at Hamer – as he departed. The following is an extract from Ben Palmer on his time at Hamer.
It has been a hugely immense privilege to be able to share life with the residents here. Even the times that were sub-fantastic were worth while in my opinion. On many occasions I was thoroughly grateful for the support that we have and for the ways that God equips those he uses in such circumstances! I’ve also been glad for the way in which our interaction with the residents is such as massive two way street! Solid team effort in my opinion. Matt this morning you asked us to briefly talk about the good bad and other. Monumentally phenomenal: Getting more of a glimpse into some of the great stuff that goes on here! Bit of an adventure: Being up and about at 2am to mop up the floods for a few hours one day. Less than ideal: Hearing a doorbell and wondering if it was real or just in your dreams. (It happened a bit!) Thankyou. From Ben
Team Servants t-shirts
The t-shirts have arrived – and most splendid they look too!!
300 shirts – hopefully we will have 300 bodies to wear them all on Sunday 26th July!
Opalgate + 1
A couple of nice donations to talk about tonight – a friend of Servants sent in a cheque for $1000 and Opalgate Foundation deposited $3000 into our account today. I believe this is the third year running Opalgate have supported us financially – increasing their giving by 1000 bucks each time.
Version 7
I am slowly making my way thru Version 7 of the Voices from Carrical doco. I am very happy to say that it is looking fabulous. 35 minutes into it at the present time (50 minutes total) and there is just one small amendment I require.
I was highly impressed with Version 2!! This is several steps on from that and really has a terrific balance of resos/students/background to Servants. It is also a fascinating snapshot of life at Carrical circa 2009.
Moon landing vs. decision from Council.
I understand that it took somewhere between 3 and 4 days from take off to landing a man on the moon.
It took our friends from Boroondara Council 10 days to approve my application to host a BBQ outside Westpac Bank in Glenferrie Rd on Saturday 4th July to help promote Team Servants ’15 to the Great Unwashed of Hawthorn.
Our friends from Rotary Club of North Balwyn will be on BBQ duties with their all singing, all dancing BBQ trailer – and we will have a couple of tables with advertising for the Team/books/general SCH info etc.
The hours of operation our not known as yet – I will Heartbeat these once I know. Any help that interested parties might like to volunteer would be appreciated.
One small step and all that jazz …………………………
Alan’s reflection
I asked Alan and Ben, who recently finished their 4.5 month stint as temporary Housekeepers at Hamer, to write a short reflective piece on their time at Hamer. The following is from Alan ……..
After working at Servants for over two years, it became a whole new perspective to witness this world on the frontline as a Night Manager. I developed skills in listening, patience, and keeping a level head in difficult situations. What I have witnessed on many occasions is a strong sense of community, and that concepts such as friendship and belonging are so universal to everyone’s feelings of peace and security.
An important thing I learned in my experience is that first impressions count for so little. Some residents can display one persona but have an entirely different one underneath. One of the challenges but also joys of living with them was to try and discover what was underneath, to see who they truly are. I discovered the dangers of propagating an ‘us against them’ mentality between management and residents, too much of a divide creates a mistrust on both ends. When those barriers were broken, I could see mutual respect appear, and a stronger relationship develop.
One of my many joys has been to see positive changes in residents over time, and to feel personally involved in that. To see them quit drinking, or to start a new hobby or change of lifestyle, even just seeing them accept outside help, these are victories that sometimes were overshadowed by negative experiences, but those are the moments that I will always seek to positively reflect on. These are real people, with real lives, and with real problems. If I have in any way even had a small impact on their lives in a positive way, I will be truly thankful.
Heartbreaking
When interviewing prospective resos, and sometimes their families too, we get to hear some heartbreaking stories. Today I heard one of the more heartbreaking. Ouch, ouch, ouch.
I often reflect on how we all granted but one life – and when I hear a story such as that I heard today, well, it’s kind of shattering even to listen to the story, yet alone live it. I drove away from the interview thinking about the fine margins of life and how terrific it is that SCH can play such a significant part in helping to redress the balance somewhat in an individual’s/a families life.
The Servants Facebook page has been quite busy of late. Have you been there lately? If you have not as yet ‘liked’ the SCH page, please do so!
Show me your Heartbeat!!!
Please take the following as the gentlest of gentle encouragement:
Heartbeat is alive and well. I very much enjoy posting/blogging into it – and it’s always an encouragement to me when there are responses. Servants remains as busy and buzzing as ever and I think it would be ace if more folks would Heartbeat. Housekeepers see/hear amazing things on a daily basis, we all read articles that would be at home if posted in Heartbeat etc.
Please feel welcome to Heartbeat your Servants news/views/opinions/articles/anecdotes/pictures for the benefit of us all!!
Encouragement over.
114 in a jar.
Tonight I spoke at Melbourne High School at the combined MHS/MGC/MacRob Talent Quest. This was Year 2 of the event – both of which have been held for the benefit of Servants.
It was a good night. There was some talent on display – there was also some dross.
My own performance as I spoke was good, not great. Prior to this evening I had one main teaching contact at MHS – now I have 2 as the deputy-head rapidly fell in love with us.
BUT, most importantly, I won the ‘guess the number of lollies in the jar’ competition. 114 I guessed and 114 it was. The perfect end to a long day!
John Pesutto
Hawthorn MP John Pesutto visited Carrical for about 40 minutes this arvo. We had first met him at the Narrative launch last October. He talked fondly of that event. Seemed like a genuine kind of bloke – spoke sense – and was interested in our work and our future. Following on from the tradition of Ted he agreed that he would deliver a turkey or ham to Carrical each Christmas! So, another local MP has been to visit us, to meet some resos and, hopefully, has started his personal journey of being ‘infected’ by Servants.
Melbourne’s #1 Christmas Carols.
I have officially decreed Carols @ Carrical to be Melbourne’s #1 ranked Christmas Carol event.
This year’s event is now locked in for the evening of Sunday 13th December. North Balwyn Rotary BBQ, Hawthorn Sing Australia, Hawthorn Community Chest and Servants are all locked in for the 2015 version of this extravaganza.
There will be a few changes from last year – announcements to follow later!
Amanda heard ……………
Amanda was talking with one of our resos of a few year’s standing and he explained that one of the things that he was amazed/moved by was when he moved into Carrical that a couple of resos took the trouble to say hello and introduce themselves – and that the next day they acknowledged him again, still remembering his name.
Is it not amazing that such a simple act of kindness and courtesy should have such impact? And does it not explain much about some of the places that our resos have previously lived in.
Perhaps the lesson for us all here is that we should not take common courtesy for granted?
Personally speaking
One way or another most of you know that I have been facing up to some struggles/demons this calendar year. I can very cautiously say that some hurdles are in the process of being overcome and that, as of the past week, I have felt that I am in a really good place. I spoke at Strathcona to the Year12 cohort a couple of Fridays back now – and as I spoke I became aware that a little bit of the ‘real Matt’ had returned. In the past week, and intermittently thru the past few weeks, I have felt that I am in a really safe, productive and creative space.
Thank you to you all who continue to support me and help me achieve the bit of magic for Servants that I need to achieve.
M.
RC Hawthorn
Rotary Club of Hawthorn informed me yesterday that they will be supplying Hamer with a new $3000 freezer for the staff kitchen, a new fridge for the Resos Kitchen at Carrical and will be sponsoring 2 of our resos for Run Melbourne $250 each.
Whilst on the subject of Rotary we have been informed by RC Glenferrie that they are donating $2000 to us and RC Canterbury are donating $1000 to Team Servants ’15. The generosity that has come our way as a result of establishing relationships with local Clubs has really been terrific. I would not know quite where to begin in terms of putting a $ figure on it all – but it would be quite substantial by now. Of course, our relationship with Rotary cannot be measured in crude $ terms alone. I am very grateful to them for all their support and encouragement and for the friendships that have arisen thru these networks. I am also quite sure that Rotary loves Servants too!!
Tim Smith
Liberal member for Kew, Tim Smith, visited Romana this arvo for a chat and a look around. It was quite an eye opening experience for him! Seemed like quite a nice sort of chap – and he said he’d be running with Team Servants this year – which would clearly make him a very good chap! I thought it would be a good experience for a few local politicians to see what we are up to in the Boroondara area.
Hotel California
On Saturday night we held a special Community Dinner at Hamer to farewell Ben and Al, the temporary Housekeepers in the Donohoes’ absence. The boys did a terrific job in their 4.5 months at Hamer. They will be very much missed by the resos. I reminded Ben and Al that Servants is a little like the line from The Eagles song Hotel California: ‘You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.’ They both seemed quite happy with this indupitable fact.
C-Change
At Carey this year their Year 9’s are engaging in a year long project entitled C-change – it’s all about social issues. 4 of their students recently shot a short video about Servants involving me and 3 of our resos – Paul, Richard and Barry. This was shown at a Year 9 Carey assembly last Friday arvo and was attended by 2 of the 3 resos and me. The video is not of the quality that I would show anywhere – but I still think the work the boys did was terrific, they were certainly challenged by what they saw and heard
As soon as I can work out how to post the video clip in Heartbeat I will do so – for your viewing pleasure and edification!
In a nutshell ……………….
The Budget for 2015/16 has been struck and is now awaiting committee approval at the June meeting. Many, many thanks to Isaac for his work over many weeks in setting the template for the budget so beautifully – and equally as may thanks to Amanda and Kara this week who have spent more hours than I care to consider fine tuning and refining it. I trust that all committee members will be pleased with the final document.
Whilst on the subject of thanks ……………… Mark and Amanda, with me on the periphery, have worked thru some very difficult resident issues this week. It is fair to say that all the houses are running beautifully BUT the issues they have dealt with this such care and wisdom have doubtless been exhausting. I think one of our great organizational strengths is the absolute quality we have in Amanda and the Housekeepers and the care with which they go about their tasks of interacting with the resos.
Whilst taxing reso issues and budget tinkering have taken up most of the week I managed to talk at both Strathcona and Carey. The talk to Strathcona was especially good.
A new female reso moved into Hamer today. Good news! The Empty Room Nigh total for fin year to date is 98 – wobbling on the very precipice of 100!! I will be doing all within my significant powers to ensure the 100 Night barrier is NOT broached. Watch this space. We budgeted for 720 Empty Nights for the fin year – so I guess we’re doing ok.
Team Servants ’15 progress remains pleasing. There are currently 24 established Supporter Pages and an increasing number of enquiries about our team. Our total income to date for the Team is just inxs of $3500. Yes, still very long way to go – but good progress. Our Leaderboard, in terms of donations received, is our very own President Warren. The Pres currently has a very healthy $1100 gap between himself and The Husband of Vice-President Connie. Not that this is a competition of course, no, of course not. Next week the resos will have their Supporter Pages established. Let’s face it, who wants to be financially beaten by a homeless guy!!??
We found out today that Bunnings are giving us a shed for Hamer worth $900.