Fremantle Street Kitchen
Published in the Fremantle Herald, December 25, 2020 (online version not available )
EVERYONE IS WELCOME to help grassroots community group, Freo Street Kitchen, pick up the baton from keystone homeless support services that are closed on Boxing Day.
When Saint Pat’s goes on break for three days after Christmas, rough sleepers across Fremantle face a gruelling 72 hours in sweltering temperatures, without access to food, water, shelter, toilets or showers.
To help fill the gap, Freo Street Kitchen (FSK) will be in Pioneer Park on Boxing Day, setting up coffee, tea, and barbecue stations, along with other essentials like basic sanitation and shelter.
“I think that what’s really great about this is it’s… explicitly filling that gap, and also raising awareness of the fact that we have a major housing and homeless crisis emerging in this state,” Fremantle Mayor, Brad Pettit, said.
“There are real people and real lives impacted by that”.
The day is projected to be festive and community-focused, with live music and a community cook up at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
GET INVOLVED OR GET IN TOUCH!
The FSK team wants locals to get involved on the day or, get in touch on Facebook, to find out other ways they can contribute.
With the number of rough sleepers on the streets of Fremantle at an all-time high, Lived Experience Consultant and FSK coordinator, Trish Owen, said the need for this kind of community engagement and support is eminent.
“The system is failing but the community is the solution,” she said.
“People need a community to heal in”.
Along with Ms Owen, a number of other FSK Coordinators also share lived experiences with homelessness, poverty, navigating social housing and the mental health systems in WA.
“I don’t know how to exactly put into words, the value that I find in community connection,” one of FSK’s coordinators, Mace Clarion, said.
“And how much healing can happen when you connect with people outside of the services that are just so fragmented and disconnected”.
“Empowerment that comes through that connection is what has driven this and needs to be what we put forward as what we’re doing”.
Dr Pettit said the Fremantle Community is known for their culture of kindness and thinks locals will support and encourage the event.
“Fremantle is a community that cares… we’re not a community that tries to turn away,” he said.