Having a Vision and Hoping for Resource

It’s a dilemma many of us in community work face, seeing what could be but living with the reality of limited finance, resource and people power. We get creative, we have to be frugal and we spend a lot of time hoping or praying. We also celebrate those that get what they need for their services but grieve for the people we long to help.

A Vision doesn’t go away just because money doesn’t come. At Streetlevel we have seen a number of things happen, quite miraculously at times. From small things like running out of paper cups (which we use ALOT!) and then the next day having 30 000 donated for no reason. We have seen finance come through, donations come at the right time and be exactly what we need. In our community Prayer certainly works, but we also live with a daily struggle.

Currently all community services are facing the reality that our funding might be cut. No longer being able to assist those in need, for some non Salvo services that fate has already passed and they have closed their doors after many years of serving the community. We are living in Limbo land, hoping that we are a survivor of this funding round, but the reality is even if we get funding the parameters have changed.

We can’t completely control these parameters, as they are government set but we can still offer something extra with our service. They can’t change that! No one likes to live in Limbo yet it is such a reminder that so many people who are affected by injustice live in limbo everyday; refugees awaiting asylum, women fleeing violence and families trying to make ends meat to feed their kids, not knowing if it is going to happen.

So what am I really trying to say? Well, its a tough season in community work. The need is greater, the money less and it can seem like injustice is winning. I am reminded of a CS lewis quote, “good and evil increase at compound interest. The decisions you and I make everyday are of infinite importance.” Today I am choosing not to let the Vision fade, but continue to make decisions that bring what we do closer to that vision, even if it is small it is closer than what we were yesterday. Plus we keep praying – you never know what might happen, 30 000 of something else?

Community, Characters and Meaning.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love working in the NGO sector, in an urban community of Surry Hills, but there are just some things about community work that are hard to explain. Often it is the random, the awkward and the down right hilarious that add colour to the variety of things that happen each day. Just to give you a picture here are a few things that happened recently.

• In one of our busiest days of the year where we saw 70+ people for food assistance, had a few staff off sick (and remember in community work we very rarely have the money to pay casual staff), 3 pallets of deliveries plus maintenance work, we also have characters such as Harry.

Let me explain Harry (I have included a photo with his permission at the top). You see Harry is 51 years old, he shops in our internal food market, arranged through his case workers and visits us (and a few other places) to have a chat, use our phone and have a coffee. Harry is a famous in Surry Hills, even many of the taxi drivers know him.

Yet, no matter how busy we are, how many other things we have happening Harry demands our time. He won’t wait (patience is not his strong suit), no matter how often the staff ask him to wait, try to entertain him with conversations about the news, the 70’s and many other random things, Harry somehow manages to get through the doors into our office. Before we know it I am responding to emails, writing submissions or on the phone and Harry is talking at me in my doorway.

Then a plethora of colourful conversation happens. He informs me of the current events assuming I have not watched the news, tells me about the various Surry Hills businesses opening and closing and then asks for some up to date information about anything new happening at our service. And all of this is down at full volume, Harry doesn’t have an inside voice, only one level – LOUD! Ultimately our conversation ends with him wanting to use the phone to make his daily phone call to a particular person (they generally get the same conversation) and telling me what needs fixing around here.

You see, this is community work. All the things we do, the sometimes hectic days, the food deliveries, the filling in of staff when sick, even dealing with the occasional mouthful,  its actually to help people like Harry have a better quality of life. The reality is, we and other services that support him are his “family”. Sure we don’t live together, but services like ours exist to ensure people do’nt just have food, clothing and shelter, but also people who are concerned for their well being. Connecting with him, reducing isolation, celebrating birthdays and journeying through hardship.

It isn’t easy and most of the time not glamorous, the assistance is just the first step to creating a meaningful relationship that can help sustain people’s emotional self.  We are a christian service and Harry does believe in God, he was able to tell me this in a conversation about what the people at this service have done for him, “It showed me how to have relationship with people”. This is why we do what we do.

Tomorrow is always different, but our purpose remains the same.