Skills training now on menu at Samaritan Services
Former Foster House client Barry now works as Café Manager at The Salvation Army Waterloo Community Centre. (Photo: Matthew Samson)
In 1991, legendary Australian singer-songwriters, Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody, released their iconic song, From Little Things Big Things Grow. That song title is a fitting description for a new program being run by Samaritan Services in the inner-Sydney suburb of Surry Hills.
Catering manager of Samaritan Services, Kristoff May, was employed around two years ago, initially to audit food safety and occupational health and safety procedures within the kitchen. To his astonishment, he found a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen which was running nowhere near capacity.
“When I walked into the kitchen the first question I asked was why the kitchen was only catering for 100 people when it had a capacity to cater for 1,000,” Kristoff says.
“Shortly after commencing my role at Samaritan Services as the catering manager, I had a vision where the kitchen could be used for more than just providing meals to the residents and staff, but could also be used as a training facility to provide the clients of Samaritan Services a chance to gain new skills.”
With this in mind, Kristoff put together a proposal which was supported by management and a team was quickly set up to see the proposal through. In September last year, Samaritan Services started offering barista courses as well as other training opportunities toclients who call Samaritan Services home.
“We started small but over the months since our catering service started, demand has grown,” Kristoff says. “Just a few weeks ago we catered for 400 Optus staff members at the Belvoir Theatre.”
Many of the clients at Samaritan Services have underlying mental health, drug and alcohol problems, but Kristoff says this should not be seen as a barrier to give someone a chance.
“I always want to look at the good in people and I believe as a society we need to move on from the backdated mentalities of the past which isolated people, because they really should not exist in the modern world.”
Former Samaritan Services resident, Barry, had been living on the streets of Sydney for 12 years. Just over a year ago, he decided he wanted to turn his life around.
“For those 12 years I was depressed, I lost hope and lived day after day on the streets not knowing or caring what the following day would bring,” he says.
“Shortly after moving into Foster House (Samaritan Services shelter for homeless men) I asked whether there were any opportunities to volunteer and that is when I was put in contact with Kristoff and started the barista course which he was running.”
Through this training, Barry was able to regain self-esteem and a sense of self-worth.He was employed on a casual basis at The Salvation Army Waterloo Community Centre, which opened late last year.
Due to the success of the community centre, Barry was subsequently promoted to cafe manager and now works full-time. It’s enabled him to live independently.
“Gaining skills through the training at Samaritan Services has meant I can be self-reliant as well as being able to live independently,” Barry says.
Comments
How awesome, what a great idea and what a wonderful man to help these very deserving people put their lives back together