By Eric Martin
The Order of Australia Medal is the pre-eminent way that Australia recognises the achievements and service of their fellow citizens; for twin sisters Eileen Giles and Patricia Powell, they hope the award will further enable their efforts to provide support for the homeless of Rockingham.
The organisation that the sisters founded more than 10 years ago, – Servants Of United Love (SOUL) Incorporated – is a not-for-profit that operates a soup kitchen, pregnant women’s refuge, food depot, and charity shop in the sea-side southern suburb.
“About 12 years ago we were doing an Advent program in our parish and one of the questions was related to social justice: what do you think is needed in your area? And the group thought that a mobile soup kitchen was required,” Patricia shared.
“The following May, Eileen was woken in the middle of the night with the words: ‘It’s time to start your street ministry’.
“Both of us knew what that was about so we went to the Council and got permission, and a benefactor gave us money to buy a van which he’d converted into a soup kitchen.
“It started on 26 September 2008, and for three weeks we would accost people walking their dogs and asked them if they needed help,’” she laughed.
“Because we didn’t know where the homeless stayed, it evolved over time and for the last 11 years we’ve been going to the same place at the same time,” Eileen added.
Eileen and Patty explained that this has allowed the homeless people of Rockingham to have a regular routine that enables them to get real sustenance and help each week. They visit six different locations, usually parks, where they stay for 15 minutes.
The Soup Run goes out twice a week on a Thursday and a Sunday to six stops in the Rockingham area, and a Home Run on a Thursday for those who are unable to get to the Soup Run stops.
Everyone is welcome to come and eat from the van and there are no criteria as to who should be served.
“Sometimes they’re actually embarrassed to come to the van. Sometimes it’s a real stigma for people to put their hat in their hand and ask for help,” Eileen said.
“The situation now is more out there, like what you would expect to see in America: people with their trolleys and things like that. You never used to see that, as I mentioned earlier, when we started we actually had to go out and find them, whereas now it’s quite obvious.”
“It’s not just homeless people now that we see come to the van, there’s a lot of people in desperate need. For example, there’s a girl whose husband’s work has been intermittent, because he’s in the building industry and he’s not getting payed regularly: she’s got no money for petrol, no money for food – and that’s just a normal family who are really struggling,” she explained.
“Even on the weekend, our parish priests messaged us to say that there was a mother who had four children, yet she had no nappies, no food and no petrol. So Patty met her at the shops to give her what she needed.”
SOUL Care started in February 2009 with a vision to help women who are pregnant and homeless. Over some 11 years, many mothers, babies and children have used the refuge called St Pio’s House of Hope and since then, SOUL Care have been given the use of another house, called St Benedict’s House of Hospitality.
“In the February of 2009, the same benefactor bought us a house! Prior to that, we’d actually read an article in The Record about 14 years ago about a girl who was in a wheelchair, 22 weeks pregnant, and needed accommodation,” Patricia shared.
“Eileen said to me: ‘Patty, we’ve got to do this’.
“And that was the start of our journey with homeless pregnant women,” Eileen added.
“A lot of the girls that we help come from overseas, their parents or their family reject them because they’re having a baby out of wedlock: they might be a student and when they get cut off they have no money and no way of getting a job,” she said.
“We’re grandmother to plenty.”
SOUL Incorporated relies on the generosity and donations of individuals and local organisations, as well as some 50 volunteers who donate their time to the soup run once a month, and the sisters have set their sights on expanding this crucial support factor in a meaningful, spirit-led way.