![St John's volunteers (from left) Lynda Schilling and Ildiko Sander with some of the thousands of meals provided to those in need on the Gold Coast. St John's volunteers (from left) Lynda Schilling and Ildiko Sander with some of the thousands of meals provided to those in need on the Gold Coast.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/zFAiTDuEg3GdzaaJJ3MGNK/8d866f07-2011-4a1d-b12c-a69e7f562191.jpg/r0_286_1512_1793_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Where do you go if you're living on the streets and haven't had a meal for a while.
Create a free account to read this article
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Or you're elderly and alone and haven't seen anyone in days; and you're making a choice between rent and food; or worse you're also living on the streets because your abusive family has turned you out of your own home.
If you're on the Gold Coast you might find yourself at the St John's Crisis Centre in Hamilton Street where safety, a hot meal, emergency medical care, companionship and shelter from the elements give some dignity back to those who are doing it tough.
The centre at St John's Church was recently named the Robina Town Centre Organisation of the Year in the Gold Coast Volunteering Awards.
Started 43 years ago by a couple of parishioners who wanted to feed the homeless, the centre has grown to a be a major non denominational crisis centre with a mission to provide help to those in need.
That help includes food (last financial year the centre provided 35,500 meals), food vouchers, fuel vouchers, school breakfasts and lunches, emergency accommodation for people fleeing domestic family violence and safe, non judgemental emergency medical care, to name just a few of the services St John's provides.
General Manager Dianne Kozik gives the credit squarely to the centre's volunteers. There are currently around 45 on the books but the centre is appealing for more,
"Without the volunteers this place wouldn't run," said Dianne. "Our volunteers are awesome."
The work of the centre seems inexhaustable. It helps older people who are facing elder abuse - a few years ago one 85-yr-old man would come in regularly after being thrown out of home by his family.
Some elderly people come for a cup of tea and piece of cake. There is a library, television and board games and they get to meet people, chat and socialise.
Grandparents who are looking after grandchildren after a marital breakdown come to the centre when they've exhausted their savings and don't have enough money for food or utilities.
The centre helps thousands of familes every year with emergency relief, helps people who can't read with correspondence, helps with clothing and essentials and technology and school needs.
However, the centre also has a long-term goal of building its own domestic violence shelter.
There's only one shelter on the Gold Coast that will take a boy over the age of 13. "I find it horrendous that when a family has gone through so much trauma, a boy has to be separated from his mother," said Dianne.
The proposed shelter would not only allow young teen males to stay with their mothers but would also have an animal shelter where pets could be housed to prevent the threat of violence against pets being used as tool against the victims.
To volunteer or donate: stjohnscc.org.au