By Dongyun Kwon
Holy Fools was selected as Community Group of the Year for its consistent contribution to homeless people.
The organisation has been supporting homeless people for over 15 years by hosting community lunches, providing swags and blankets for people sleeping rough and offering information and a place to go for community members at risk of, and experiencing, homelessness.
Holy Fools founder and chief executive officer Neal Taylor said it was their first time being nominated and receiving the award.
“We’re honoured and feel very privileged to receive it,” he said.
Mr Taylor founded Holy Fools in 2009.
He said he started realising there was a lack of support for homeless people to battle the issues they were dealing with when he worked at a dining room which provided a community meal in Croydon.
“I decided to start walking alongside them to help them solve their issues whether it was a medical appointment, court case or whatever,” Mr Taylor said.
“Then we realised that we needed more of an overarching organisation that helps do that.
“We got a bunch of friends together, and that’s how Holy Fools began.”
On a shoestring budget, the Holy Fools team works year-round to provide for people doing it tough and advocate on their behalf to levels of government, other services, and the wider community, appealing for understanding, compassion and resources to help some of the most vulnerable people in the community.
Their nominator noted their work in opening a homelessness resource centre, which will open its doors in 2025 and will no doubt have a tremendously positive impact on community members sleeping rough, or at risk of homelessness, for many years to come.
Mr Taylor said Holy Fools tried to open a new homelessness resource centre after the previous drop-in centre closed due to a lack of funding.
“We worked with The Salvation Army and opened up a drop-in centre here in Lilydale. We ran a couple of community meals and did lots of things like a men’s group and an arts group, but that closed down shortly after about two years with the lack of funding from the Salvos, they pulled the funding on it,” he said.
“Ever since then, we realised that there was a definite need for something like that in the local area, so we’ve been pushing along to try and do something.
“In late 2023, we identified that there was a property in Lilydale that was up for lease and the office, so we moved here and started renovating here.”
The homelessness resource centre is designed for people who need a refuge off the street.
Mr Taylor said Holy Fools would finally be able to open the centre after a few years of waiting.
“We’ll have lockers for people to store stuff, free tea, coffee and soft drinks. It’ll be air-conditioned. There’s going to be a shower, washing machine and dryer,” he said.
“At the moment, we’re very close to opening, we’re getting an accessible toilet and shower unit, which was funded by the state government. That’ll be hopefully ready to go by the end of February, and we’ll have a big opening in March.
“We’re volunteer-based, so everyone is a volunteer here including myself. I’m really thankful that the community and the government have been able to support us and do this dropping centre.”
