Three members of the Bentley conference of the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) are working hard to help the underprivileged people of their area.
Their efforts are a lesson in how the little local chapters of the Society – known as conferences – can do a huge amount of good work, often unnoticed and unseen.
Tom and Pat Thomas, of Santa Clara Parish in Bentley and Flo Robinson, of St Joseph’s Parish Queens Park, became good friends through their SVP work together.
Tom, 76, and Pat, 75, spend about 12 to 15 hours a week doing paperwork, checking and visitation and make about 15 phone calls a week, Tom told The Record.
He said their conference meets once a month with him as vice-president, leading Alzheimer’s disease researcher Prof Ralph Martins as president and Flo, 53, as the secretary.
Pat and Tom, a retired fitter, came to WA from England 40 years ago, and have been doing SVP work for nearly four years.
Although the three have plenty of grandchildren and great-grandchildren between them they still find time for their SVP work.
They mentioned the little-known Hardships Utility Grant Scheme (HUGS) run by the State Government Department of Child Protection “set up for families so that children don’t go without”.
HUGS will pay 85 per cent of a water, gas or electricity bill, to help those most in need, with needy individuals and families being required to apply via a financial counsellor from Centrelink.
Generally, the amount is up to $450 and “you must contact Synergy, Alinta or the Water Corporation first,” they said.
“A phone call from the SVP head office about what sort of help they (need) is all that is necessary,” Tom said.
He said the Society makes no judgements about those in need of help: anyone who wants help from the call centre gets help.
“Sometimes you never hear from them again – it is an emergency service – (but) some families have a very low income and this is where HUGS comes in.
Tom said many disabled individuals have trouble meeting the costs of prescription medication – something the Society can help with. One person they know faces costs of $70 for prescriptions every 10 days which the Society pays for.
“As a conference, we can make decisions amongst ourselves and discuss these things and have the ability to put in place these things,” said Flo, adding that there are eight members in their conference.
“If we have someone who is going to be evicted, we can arrange funds to stop this,” she added.
The Passages drop-in centres – in Northbridge, Mandurah and Albany – offer the homeless a shower, toiletries and a meal. A visit to Passages means “they come out feeling a bit human”, Tom said.
High Perth rentals have also caused problems for those on low incomes, although the Society’s ability to assist with rental is limited. Meanwhile, the Society’s chain of suburban op shops and clothing shops is a huge help.
He said that many people deliver secondhand clothes already washed and ironed to their conference ready to be passed on to the Society’s clothing stores.
The conference has also assisted new arrivals to Australia. “In the last month we got about four single men referred from the Red Cross – immigrants (or) boat-type people, who speak hardly any English, and rely on someone to interpret,” said Tom.
“We supply curtains, kitchen stuff – not fridges or washing machines. As a conference, we can supply people with a secondhand fridge.”