Author: andrewscentre

SUPPORTING FAMILIES IN HOUSING STRESS

Due to a shoulder injury “Michael” had to leave his work and started an alternative job as a taxi driver.  Unfortunately he was held up at gun point in his taxi and is now too traumatized to return to this work.  He is reliant solely on a Newstart payment which leaves him a total of $11 a fortnight to live on after paying his mortgage!  “Michael” sought our help with an overdue rates bill.  We were able to provide some financial help and were able to organize with the council a moratorium on further payments for a period of time to give him a chance to recover.

“Jenny” is a mother of two children who was the victim of domestic violence and was homeless.  She was desperate for housing and through WAYSS was finally able to get some accommodation in a caravan park. She had to find rent in advance and the Centre donated $400 towards rent in advance.

“Amy” came to see us very distressed.  After being reduced to homelessness due to a number of tragic circumstances, she was given the only available accommodation in a boarding house in Endeavour Hills.  Her room was freezing with the only ventilation coming from a broken skylight above her head.  All the walls were marked with graffiti and newspaper covered up holes in the wall.  The room was infested with cockroaches and she dared not leave her room because other residents surrounded and intimidated her, demanding cigarettes.  Not surprisingly, she was depressed and quite traumatized.  Between ourselves and WAYSS she was given 7 nights accommodation in a motel until we were able to accommodate her in one of our emergency units.  The Centre is now providing her with a number of different services to help her recover and regain confidence to seek more permanent safe, affordable and appropriate accommodation.

“Maree” is a mother with two young girls who has been in Australia for the past four years after marrying an Australian man overseas who then sponsored them to return to Australia with him.  She had been working up to the end of last year when she lost her job.  Her husband recently abandoned her and the girls and moved in with his mother.  “Maree” was left with no income so that she could not pay the rent nor even feed her family.  Dandenong WAYSS in desperation asked us to accommodate the family whilst everything possible is done to try to help the family be able to stay in the country.  Both girls are particularly desperate to stay! The Centre is currently supporting them with all housing, food and transport costs.

There are so many families in housing stress due to the fact that rental costs have risen markedly at a much faster rate than income! It only the takes the simplest unforeseen circumstance such as an unexpected car repair and families find themselves behind in rent! Over the past three months we have supported 26 different families who were either homeless or in imminent danger of eviction at a total cost of $11,729.50.  We have also provided bedding, swags and blankets to many who are on the streets.

EMERGENCY HOUSING

In the past three months we have had six different families in our emergency accommodations. Two families have now left two of our units and have found accommodation nearby.  We were very glad to help them financially to cover some of the bond and rent in advance and removalist costs.  The units are now occupied by a single girl, a family of three seeking help to stay in Australia, an elderly mother and her son and a single father with two daughters.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Many needy families have been provided with assistance with chemist, utility, upfront specialist fees, medical equipment, petrol, car registration and car repairs and educational expenses such as uniform, camps and computers and even loan cars!  Thanks to Dr Mark we continue to provide dental help for people who are in immediate need and unable to afford dental treatment.  The Centre also seeks to encourage high achievers whose parents are not always able to afford them the opportunity to pursue their area of expertise.

“John” came to Australia and immediately secured work. All was well until he started to notice that he was not easily able to read small print.  He thought he just needed glasses and made an appointment to see an optometrist. It turned out unfortunately that he had a genetic disease and his sight has quickly deteriorated to the point where he is now legally blind and could no longer work.  At the time he came to us for assistance he had lost his home, was relying on a friend for a roof over his head and had very limited finances.  We were able to link him with a social worker to help him apply for Centrelink assistance and also provided assistance with filling in the forms, a support letter and emergency food vouchers and food.

NEW SHELVING

Thanks to the brilliant design work of Bill Matthews and the great carpentry skills of Ray Taylor we now have new shelving in the Food Relief room!! – For the first time everything fits!!!

FREE FLU INJECTIONS

A steady stream of people took advantage of free flu injections at the Centre in May provided by Monash Health.

 

MONDAY AND THURSDAY MEALS

The Monday Meals team is now catering for anything up to 90 people each week and it is often a lot more!!  They do a wonderful job catering for so many and even giving “little extras” for the participants eg bananas and muesli bars etc to take home.  Those attending the Thursday meals over the past three months have been privileged to enjoy a brief talk each week from one of our psychologists, Rosemary Steer, (ably supported by counsellor Shadia Matthews) to help them better understand themselves and others.  We are so grateful to our faithful team of cooks, setup/packup teams and cleaners who do such a great job each week to make this ministry possible.  We also give a special thank you to Barry who has been setting up and cleaning up after every Thursday meal but has to retire from this job because of ill health.

COMMUNITY GARDEN.

Winter crops are now in and all the garden beds have been claimed by enthusiastic gardeners.  The chooks have ensured a steady supply of eggs which have been used in the meals and for distribution to families in need.  Some of the vegetables have also supplied the Monday and Friday meals and the scraps from the meals go back into the garden compost or to the chooks!!  Thanks to Tarj Jedrys we now have a new glass house We can also boast our own composting toilet on site!!!

COUNSELLING

It is always a challenge to meet the demand for counselling at the Andrews Centre, despite the fact that we have 7 psychologists and 3 counsellors on board!!  The waiting lists never seem to shorten!!  There are so many families and individuals struggling with everything from depression and anxiety, addiction issues, family breakdown, trauma, anxiety and clinical issues such as eating disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder  As well as bulk billing clients to make sure everyone who needs counselling can afford it, the Centre continues to provide financial support to ensure people on low incomes can access counselling services and the assessments they might need.  The counselling team continue to meet once a month together and to support and encourage one another and share knowledge and insights in the very important work that they do.  A wider network of psychologists from outside also meet once every two months at the Centre. We are also ever grateful that we can also make available free legal counsel for many on low income who can feel utterly at a loss as to what to do in situations where legal action is required.

NDIS INFORMATION SEMINAR

Two seminars were held this quarter to make sure all families are aware of how they might be able to access the help available through the government  for any members of their family with a disability qualifying them for funding under the  National Disability Insurance Scheme.

KEYS TO CONNECT

The program is entitled “Keys to Connect” and it is aimed at equipping children and adolescents with these very important qualities of self awareness, social understanding and interpersonal skills.

Thanks to a youth grant from the Commonwealth Bank the Centre will now be able to provide two special group sessions for children and teenagers who struggle with social anxiety and other issues which can make it very difficult for them to cope in school and other social settings.  Negative social experiences can have long term consequences on future family, relationships, career, success and general well being and self esteem.

 

EDUCATION

Migrant English classes are provided for individuals at the Andrews Centre At the moment three Spanish speaking ladies attend every week and a Cambodian lady is beginning classes

MONEY MINDED

Bill Matthews and Cas Ricardo are combining forces to run a “Money Minded” course over two weeks to help people manage as best as possible on limited incomes.  The course includes creating realistic budgets, saving without missing out and smarter shopping.

FRONT ROOM ACTIVITIES!

The front room continues to be used to support other groups who do valuable work into the community including Endeavour Hills Lions and Lionesses (Tuesday nights) and the Al Anon group who meet every Monday morning.  The Romanian Baptist Church also runs a service each Sunday morning and a group on Sunday nights to support men with addiction issues. The quilting group meets every Saturday and it provides a wonderful opportunity for women to enjoy each other’s company doing what they all love! Our quilting group recently celebrated their 6^th birthday together

ENDEAVOUR OPPORTUNITY SHOP

Keeping on top of donations!

There is a continuous stream of donations faithfully sorted and priced every week at the Shop.  The team does an amazing job of sorting, pricing, ordering and selling to keep the shop working so well.  We are grateful and humbled by the amazing support we receive from the community at large with the donations we receive.  This is now the 25^th year this shop has been running and quite a few of the workers and two of the managers have been with us all that time!  Congratulations to all the shop team for the wonderful work you continue to do to help fund the activities of the Andrews Centre.

Thank you to all who support and make possible all that is Endeavour Ministries Inc.

Endeavour Ministries acknowledges with sincere gratitude our financial support and partnership with The Andrews Foundation and the valuable support of DSS, , Endeavour Hills Rotary,  EC White Trust, Commonwealth Bank, Specsavers Endeavour Hills, The Lucinda White Trust, Endeavour Hills Lionnesses, City of Casey, , St Matthews and St James Anglican Churches.

Judy Martin

On the 16th of December, 2017, The Andrews Centre held a Christmas Fun Pampering and  Dinner event at  “The Shed” Gleneagles Secondary College. It was a great day for all the family and an absolute army of volunteers providing everything from crafts, to computer games, to a “nerf war challenge”, face painting, sack and three legged races, an animal farm and pony rides for the kids.  The mums were pampered down at the Andrews Centre whilst their children were entertained!  They relaxed with massaging and nail painting and hair styling.  A highlight of the day was when the CFA sent Santa in a fire truck who gave out show bags to all the children. The fun had on this day will be remembered forever as free family photos were taken and printed on the day. The evening concluded with everyone gathering together to enjoy a big Christmas dinner accompanied by guest opera singer, Rajele.  The final thrill for all the families invited was to receive a Christmas hamper and toys for their children on their way out.  Thank you to more than 50 volunteers who made this amazing event possible!!

 

2017 was a full and busy year, read about it in this years annual report.

The Annual Report for 2017 can be accessed via this link: annual report

The July to September Quarterly Report is available to download here.

We hear so much in the news about the amazing rise in the value of housing in so many areas of Victoria.  The unfortunate accompaniment to this is the rising cost of rentals for the many families unable to ever even look like affording their own home!

The main housing agency in this area reports that single people on the newstart allowance cannot even afford most boarding houses now, since they are charging over $200 per week for a single room!

Many of the caravan parks will not allow people on newstart to even apply to rent a van! The Andrews Centre provides temporary accommodation in four units for periods between three and six months to give families time to save towards private housing.

Whilst in the houses they are also provided with support from WAYSS to achieve private rental and free counselling for adults and children at the Centre, where there has been  eg domestic violence.  Sometimes they might also need to access our free legal advice service.

The latest Quarterly Report for April to June 2017 can be downloaded here.

Another three months have flown by and thanks to the generosity of many providing financial and material help and/or time and talents, we have been able to help many families and individuals in real need of our support.

Thanks to a continual stream of donations from a very supportive community Endeavour Opportunity Shop continues to provide very affordable good quality clothing and household goods to families whilst also raising valuable funds to be used in our counselling and emergency relief programs .

The January to March 2017 quarterly report is now available, and can be downloaded here.

The first three months of this year have been incredibly busy and quite challenging with an average of 100 appointments each month just for emergency relief clients.  This does not include the many many clients coming each day for counselling or legal help appointments, tutoring, meals, classes or even help with advocacy or filling in forms.

In 2015 The Andrews Centre, in partnership with Gleneagles Secondary College, created a new community garden at the far end of the Gleneagles Secondary College property.  The garden has been built by a number of volunteers, including some very generous local businessmen and Endeavour Hills Rotary Club.  Karl Lapinskas, our Project Manager, designed 16 large wicking beds and these were built with their own taps providing water to each bed.  The garden also boasts its own compost area, a large shed and a very big pizza oven donated by Melbourne Firebricks.  The garden beds have already grown some great crops of vegetables and the whole garden is surrounded by fruit trees.  People can apply to use a garden bed for a one year period at a cost of $40 or $20 if a pensioner.  For more information speak to John Majkut 0430286877.

We are most grateful to the following organizations, whose sponsorship made this project possible:-

The Andrews Foundation, R.E. Ross Trust, E C White Trust, Endeavour Hills Rotary Club, Endeavour Ministries Inc., Melbourne Firebricks, Rest Assured Builders, Bunnings Dandenong, City of Casey, Gleneagles Parents and Friends.

The 2016 Annual Report is now available and can be downloaded here.

2016 has been a challenging year in many ways but also a year where much has been achieved and many people helped through times of crisis and struggle.  Endeavour Ministries started back in 1994 with the aim of helping people “in need” in its broadest possible interpretation.

Since that time we have been able to help literally thousands of people with everything from crisis assistance and financial help to no interest loans, loan cars, emergency accommodation, legal and psychological counselling, educational programs, support groups and even activities to encourage them to link into the community and enjoy the support and friendship of others.

Indeed thanks to the wonderful support of the many who volunteer their time and talents, we are able to provide a comprehensive range of services which often link together to provide a family in crisis with the different services they might need in the immediate as well as more long term help, enabling them to survive the crisis and recover stability and confidence to manage.