By Callum Ludwig
For National Homelessness Week, the Star Mail reached out to the new face of the Stable One Winter Shelter Network, chief executive officer Katherine Kirkwood to share a bit more about her new role and the plight of homeless people in the Outer East.
Ms Kirkwood recently took over from Stable One’s founder and former Woori Yallock resident Jenny Willetts OAM, who has relocated back to the UK to care for her elderly parents.
Ms Kirkwood said her connection with Stable One came about through two friends who had previously volunteered at the Yarra Valley Winter Shelter.
“In 2019 I attended a fundraising event ‘Unpack’ which left a huge impact on me, at this ‘dinner’, each person was allocated a number and this number dictated ‘where’ you would be getting your food from for the evening – perhaps it would be a sausage in bread from the ‘community bbq’, perhaps it would be a mug of soup from the ‘soup kitchen’, or perhaps it would be a pack from the Foodbank,” she said.
“As some of us, hungry as we were, wondered how we would open the canned food with no can opener, or how we would eat the 2-minute noodles if we had no access to boiling water (thank goodness for the tea/coffee urn in this instance), one fortunate person on each table was provided with silver cutlery and a served with a delicious choice steak with a side of steamed vegetables, the disparity between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ was made glaringly obvious,”
“As someone with a Christian faith, I felt that God convinced me to step out of my comfort zone in order to understand the issues of poverty and homelessness on a more personal level – in the Bible, Jesus overwhelmingly calls us to care for the poor.”
Ms Willetts brought together members of local Christian churches in Lilydale, Mt Evelyn, Wandin and Yarra Glen banded to address the absence of crisis accommodation in the Yarra Ranges in 2017 and went on to found Stable One.
Ms Kirkwood said it was as a volunteer bookkeeper that she began her journey with Stable One in 2020, and then became employed in the role.
“While Stable One was running its program at The Lodge in Yarra Junction, I volunteered as a shift worker, spending time with our guests and other volunteers and during this time, I worked alongside the founder of Stable One, Jenny Willetts,” she said.
“Over the past few years my role with Stable One grew from simply bookkeeping, to assisting Jenny with other tasks including newsletters, social media, and networking with others interested in our shelter model,”
“I have learned an enormous amount from Jenny, and I felt it was a great privilege when she suggested that I step into her role.”
Stable One currently has seven venues across the state providing services for the homeless in Victoria and also partnered with the Emmaus Christian Community, Habitat for Humanity Victoria and Servants Community Housing to announce ‘The Village’ this year – a plan for 11 long-term rental homes in Bayswater North for people experiencing homelessness.
Ms Kirkwood said in her years working and volunteering for Stable One she has also learnt a great deal from our guests about homelessness.
“It is a privilege to hear their stories, and to be able to come alongside them at their most vulnerable and help to provide them with what they need – not simply food and shelter, but also care and connection,” she said.
“Our 150 plus volunteers are passionate about providing more than a place to stay, together we seek to create an atmosphere of belonging for our guests,”
“It’s a place where they can feel safe, and perhaps learn to trust people again, it’s a place where they can have good, positive conversations, it’s a place where they can been seen and heard, and even relax and have a little fun.”
While Stable One has a strong core of 150 volunteers, the organisation is currently seeking anyone who would be willing and able to fill their overnight shifts, which are run from 11pm to 6am, split into smaller shifts.
Ms Kirkwood said we all know that a home is much more than a house, people need connection, community, support, positive relationships and the list goes on.
“This Homelessness Week, Stable One has participated in the Houses At Parliament campaign, guests and volunteers have been folding origami houses to contribute to a state-wide total of 60,000 paper houses to represent the 60,000 additional, affordable and appropriate social homes that are needed in Victoria,” she said.
“But I think what gets lost in these numbers sometimes is that the ‘houses’ are just a start – people actually need more than just a roof over their head to live life well, a roof and walls are an excellent start, but unless we also provide solutions to this epidemic of loneliness and isolation we are experiencing, the problem of homelessness won’t be solved,”
“Each of us needs to be willing to walk alongside those who are struggling, be the one that gives a word of encouragement, or a helping hand to someone when they need it, take the time to invest in someone else’s story by walking alongside them, unconditionally.”
