By Callum Ludwig
Stable One is calling out for overnight volunteers to help service their winter shelters that provide respite for so many over the colder months.
Founded in the Yarra Valley, Stable One currently has seven venues across the state providing services for the homeless in Victoria.
Chief Executive Officer Katherine Kirkwood said they have a great team of approximately 150 volunteers, working hard to provide ‘more than a place to stay’ for those in need of accommodation and care this winter, however, we are still struggling to fill the overnight shifts. “Our overnight shifts run from 11pm to 6am, with the two volunteers on shift required to stay awake overnight, these are commonly our most difficult shifts to fill,” she said.
“Many of our dedicated volunteers are in an older age bracket, and hence recovering from a whole night awake is difficult, many others work a full-time job or have young families – not easy to take a day off to either prepare for or recover from an overnight shift,”
“We struggle to attract younger volunteers, who perhaps would be better able to stay awake – if all guests are tucked up in bed and it’s a quiet night, an overnight shift is a great opportunity to get some study done.”
The Stable One winter shelter network was founded by Jenny Willetts OAM in 2017 when members of local Christian churches in Lilydale, Mt Evelyn, Wandin and Yarra Glen banded together to address the absence of crisis accommodation in the Yarra Ranges.
Ms Kirkwood said Stable One’s Shelter Administrator Sharon has been working tirelessly to organise volunteers to fill the overnight shifts.
“Apart from some regular ‘gold star’ volunteers who proactively put their names down for overnights, to fill the roster involves a lot of emailing, calling, encouraging and at times begging by Sharon,” she said.
“If overnight shifts aren’t filled, we simply don’t have a project, iImagine welcoming guests into a warm space, providing them with good food, good company, an enjoyable evening and then having to ask them to leave at 11pm because we can’t staff the overnight shift, it’s unthinkable,”
“Our guests are so, so grateful for the welcome and warm they find at the shelter, they have been brought to tears by the unexpected compassion and love that is shown to them by our volunteers.”
Up to 10 guests can be catered to overnight at a Stable One shelter. Overnight shisfts run from 11pm to 6am, split into smaller shifts.
Ms Kirkwood said people are experiencing homelessness for so many reasons – they are ordinary people facing extraordinary challenges and there simply aren’t enough houses to go around.
“We are doing what we can with what we have to make a difference – churches of many denominations are working together, plus others from within the local community and we need to sustain a good number of volunteers to keep this important work going because it’s freezing outside.,” she said.
“There are many roles involved in running the shelter, overnight shifts are clearly are most difficult to fill, but there are also practical things like driving the mini-bus and moving the trailer we are short on volunteers for.”
There are also opportunities for volunteers to cook, help with the laundry, and fill morning and evening shifts.
All volunteers need to aged 18 years or older, need to hold a Working with Children Check, and need to complete some online training to prepare themselves for their role.
For those who aren’t able to physically volunteer, there is opportunities to support Stable One by purchasing an item from the ‘Shelter Shop’ such as sponsoring a bed night for $42 or by making a one-off or regular donation via the Stable One website.
Anyone interested in getting in touch or volunteering with Stable One’s Yarra Valley shelter can contact info@stableone.org or visit bttr.im/dqzk9 to register.
