By Mikayla van Loon
The Holy Fools Lilydale Homelessness Resource Centre is starting to take shape with the space being reconfigured into a welcoming and homely drop in.
Taking over the lease of 19 Hutchinson Street at the end of last year, the change from the then concrete structure has been immense, even if there’s still more to go.
Refreshed with iconically-Holy Fools purple carpet, tables and chairs, couches and tea and coffee making facilities, as well as a meeting room and an office, the vision for the Centre is coming to life.
Holy Fools founder and chief executive officer Neal Taylor said after months of slowly chipping away at refurbing the space, it finally feels achievable and real.
“There’s been a couple of times where it didn’t feel possible. When the carpet went down, it was one of the first times where it felt like we were getting somewhere,” he said.
“Prior to that, it was bits and pieces, the offices, but it just didn’t feel like it was all gelling together yet. And then once the carpet went down, that was it, you could see where it was going.”
Getting it to this point, however, would not have been possible without the community banding together, whether donating or discounting services or materials, Mr Taylor said “we’ve had a huge team of people”.
From Tom Heenan at Eastern Edge Plumbing to Cameron Betts at Human Electrical and Design, to Tiny Homes by Hangan and all the volunteers in between, it’s been a community effort.
“I wish we had the money to get it all done, say, over a couple of months, but I think this way, you appreciate it more and the amount of people who have just put their heart into here, it’s just amazing,” Mr Taylor said.
The donation of larger items like the office wall panelling, a drinks fridge and insulation also made an incredible difference to getting the centre to this point.
“That stuff has just been people in the community who we’ve either reached out to them to say, ‘this is what we need’, or they’ve gone and said, ‘hey, I’ve got this, would this work at your place?’”
Still to come in the renovations, Mr Taylor said is the accessible toilet, the laundry facilities and a few finishing touches like signage.
Reflective decals on the road facing windows, Mr Taylor said, have been installed to “give privacy and dignity to people who want to use the centre”.
The Centre is open to the public to pop in when and if they need but Mr Taylor there will be an official launch of the new space in the near future.
