Confronting Homelessness In Sydney

"$50 can feed ten people who are homeless, for a day in our Loaves & Fishes Free Restaurant". Quoted from 'The Exodus Foundation' run by Rev. Bill Crews

$10 to feed one person per day.

The Exodus Foundation is doing a wonderful job feeding homeless people in and around Sydney city. My cousin has seen their vans feeding many hungry homeless folks. She lives in Woolloomooloo, the harbourside suburb where the actor Russell Crowe, the singer Delta Goodrem and the radio man with the golden tonsils, John Laws own property. Woolloomooloo is also where a large number of homeless people like to congregate.

Maybe charity organisations need to make the heartbreaking decision of cutting the funds for food and saving some donated funds to buy real estate. Buying properties with beds or heated floors where they can sleep out of the cold and provide lockers so that they can store their possessions and can have toilets and showers to clean up if they desire. Be more mobile to go for job interviews and beable to search for food without lugging their possessions around.

Reading about homeless people and third world nations suffering absolute poverty always makes me feel so sad. An article in the Good Weekend, wrote about how families were stewing leaves to feed themselves because they had a poor harvest season and their food supply ran out before the next harvest. Imagine surviving on foraged leaves boiled in water, day in and day out.

How can we as a society, form a solution that is more longer lasting than simply trying to stay afloat by simply feeding the homeless daily?

Housing first.
Education next.
Employment after.

We can berate the government for not doing more for the homeless, but then the State Budget just handed down plans to axe up to 10,000 public service jobs across the next four years and that may be the cause of more homeless people. That means another 10,000 unemployed skilled individuals competing for jobs versus the potentially unskilled, homeless and unemployed folks.

So much easier to say, "Get a job" or "Do something useful" but how hard is it to survive in this tough world without literacy nor an education? Even basic literacy won't get many people far. Several years ago, this guy I once knew told me how he struggled to read and complete government and welfare forms. Luckily he signed up for a baking apprenticeship and now successfully runs his own bakery with his wife doing the paperwork.

Imagine if he was single, unemployed and didn't even know how to complete the welfare forms and was too embarrassed to seek help. If he was living on his own, his fate could have easily swung the other way and he could have even been one of the 'homeless' that are scorned by some.

There is so much food wastage around Sydney. Oz Harvest does a fabulous job of collecting the wastage(from what I've read!) but even on Masterchef, the cooking show on TV, the Sheraton Hotel dumped a tray of deliciously golden hash browns because they were 'overcooked' and also dumped a soggy batch of undercooked hash browns...food that would likely be welcomed by the homeless.

Not that I'm suggesting we feed homeless people inferior food but if I were homeless, I'd wolf down those hash browns that were so easily dumped into the bins. Oz Harvest already collects left over food so how bad can the leftovers be before someone who is homeless can afford to reject food?

Have you thought about your life and the 'what if' scenario of you and your family being homeless?

What would you do? How would you survive? How far would you go to survive and feed yourselves? Would you beg or be too proud? Which family or friend would you turn to for help before you end up on the street? What type of jobs would you be willing to accept if you were on the edge of being thrown out of your home due to unpaid mortgages or unpaid rent?

There isn't really much difference between a homeless person and a homeless cat, both of which I wrote about in the past. Both topics are depressing. The truth is depressing.

I recently read about a woman who smudged lipstick on her teeth on purpose. Her test was to see who would politely speak up and what people would do in uncomfortable, socially awkward situations. She had lunch with her friend who mentioned nothing about her red, lipstick smudged teeth. She went shopping and the service staff who served her all looked at the ground, looked away and didn't want to make any eye contact with her. Nor did any of them tell her that she had lipstick on her teeth. They were uncomfortable and discomforted.

Are people more inclined to look away and avoid socially awkward situation? Preferring to pretend that the homeless person sprawled out on that park bench and sitting lost and despondent by the train stations merely don't exist? Is that the type of society that we have evolved into?

What would you do if you saw someone who had either lipstick smudged on their teeth, their flys undone, their tag sticking out of their shirt, a piece of toilet paper hanging out the back of their pants, wore their shirt inside out or the buttons on their shirt buttoned up wrong? Would you look away whilst thinking, 'OMG so embarrassing' and hope that someone else tells the poor person or would you discreetly tell them? Just think about it...

SMG xx

Charity has hit a minor road block - of the piggy bank kind

This little piggy is fussy about the coins that she will accept!

A piggy bank is just a piggy bank, right?! Not if you're a little piggy bank that's made in China...

When I wandered down to the local discount store, commonly referred to as the $2 shop, although this is a misleading misnomer because almost everything in the store costs more than $2 these days... I found this cute female piggy bank and bought one to hold money deposited for my charity fundraising. I didn't even realise piggy banks could be separated into genders of female and male until I realised that female piggy banks have eyelashes, and the male ones don't.

Each drink that I sell to raise money for charity is sold at $1/can, so it wasn't a problem if someone deposited a $1 coin or any other coin for that matter EXCEPT for the 50 cent coin. Maybe the coins in China aren't any larger than our 20 cent coin and this little, yellow piggy would have been fine if it was used to hold Chinese currencies. However in Australia, it wasn't serving its function properly lol

As you can see, the 50 cent coin is stuck. It won't go down!!!

I heart Japanese food, snacks, culture and their manga + anime

While being another random blog post, I thought I'd mention that there's an awesome Japanese grocery store in Artarmon(Eastern side of the station, the side with the least high rise apartments) that I found that beats the Maruyu Japanese grocery store (283-285 Clarence Street, Sydney NSW 2000) hands down. There aren't that many Japanese grocery stores in Sydney so finding a new one is rewarding.
The Artarmon one is awesome. Not only does it stock a very wide range of Japanese ingredients but it felt like I was back in Japan at one of their Seiko Marts or Lawson style grocery stores. It was quaint and full of imported stuff from Japan (bad for our economy but good for the taste buds). I bought a pile of random delicious goodness:

Lucky Mart Japanese Grocery Store, Artarmon

Anegawa Japanese Grocery Store, Artarmon

Expired gift cards: Extend their life or get them exchanged

Gift cards are great when you don't know what to buy for your friend or family member who has everything already. If you have received any gift cards and they've expired, you should contact the retailer and ask them if they can honour or exchange the expired cards for you. If it's close to expiry, call up the retailer and ask for an extended grace period so that you've got an extended time to use your gift card.

Don't throw them out. Most retailers will usually extend your expiry period or offer you a new card in exchange. There's a new site available where unwanted gift cards can be sold or swapped with other people who don't want their gift card, usually at a discount to its face value though... afterall if there's no discount, there'd be no incentive for anyone to buy because they could just buy a new one at the shop.

I think it's a great idea that's targeting a niche market need. Exchange or sell your unwanted gift cards at www.cardlimbo.com.au

Charitable giving and my conscience

Australians are living in a lucky country. We're not living on top of any tectonic plate and thus, rather immune to natural disasters such as huge earthquakes and volcanic erruptions. Our farmers are prone to drought and floods, and we do have massive bush fires every year so those are probably the worst natural disasters that we have.

South Africa is so poor and lacking in resources. Same with South Asia- there's so much corruption that poverty is virtually part of the landscape. America has devastating hurricanes such as Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf hotspot. Yes, we really are lucky. The only thing we need to face are hot 44 degree summers and cold winters where it can be about -1 degrees at the coldest point in winter. Nothing like Canada and their -55 degree winters. I wouldn't permanently migrate to any other country.

Timothy at WealthArtisan posted his story '7 Dollars and the World Around You' and if you like being aware of how you can help other people, it may offer you a different perspective on how your actions can help or change other people's lives.

Human welfare versus animal welfare

Because we're such a lucky country, we're more of a donor nation than a recipient country. I'm constantly torn between whether I should donate to human charities or animal welfare charities. If I donate to charities that provide food to poor nations, then what about the animals/pets who have been dumped on our streets, what about the strays in Greece and what about the countries that support bull or cock fighting, bear baiting and other stupid events that abuse animals?

The different types of giving and donations and how you can help:

• Giving money directly (eg: either one off donations or regular monthly/annual donations)
• Buying fundraising goods (eg: raffles, toys, pens, badges etc)
• Supporting others on their fundraising endeavours (eg: biking, fun runs, baked goods etc)
• Volunteer work and giving your time (eg: petitions, helping with fundraising, helping with admin etc)

Choice of charity and who to give to

There are a few issues that I dislike when it concerns some charities - the ones that pay their directors or chairman a few hundred thousand dollars for working for them, the ones that waste a lot of donations in admin support cost. I've supported the following charities:

• Salvation Army - they help our local poor individuals and families + homeless
• WSPA - they fight and petition for the change in animal welfare laws in countries that abuse animals
• WWF - they support animals and wildlife conservation
• RSPCA - local charity supporting animals that have been dumped and are homeless
• Cancer research - Particularly breast cancer and prostate cancer
• World Vision - poverty in the world

I've been raising funds at work by supplying drinks in the staff fridge. Whenever my colleagues buy the drinks, the profits raised will go to supporting the charities I plan to support next year:

• National Breast Cancer Foundation and their projects involving cancer research because so many women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year
• RSPCA and their multiple projects involving animals
• Doggie Rescue and their projects involving finding new homes for pets that have been dumped by their uncaring owners. Unlike donations getting lost in administration, I can buy them something on their wish list and give it to them, knowing that every dollar has been used on the doggie's welfare
• Find volunteer work to assist the homeless in Sydney

I hope you're giving something back to the community in the form of your time or some donations. If not, please think about it. It can make a difference to people and animal's lives. It really is lucky that some of us can be born in a world of choice and opportunities while some of us are born into a world of poverty and deprivation.

Seeing a homeless man eating food from the rubbish bin really touched me

He was in his late 30s or early 40s. When I first saw the pile of half eaten food waste on the ground, on a ratty pizza box, I thought someone had dumped food on the floor. Until I noticed a man riffling through the rubbish bins looking for food that was dumped. I wasn't sure whether I should approach him or not. Until I saw him eat some steamed broccoli straight from the bin. He is the first homeless person in Australia that I have ever seen going through the bins to find scraps of food to eat.

There I was, at Bondi Beach, where the homes overlooking the beaches are valued at over several millions of dollars. Where there are so many tourists and wealthy people (or maybe over leveraged people!) are living and yet this very skinny, homeless gentleman is eating from the rubbish bin. I asked him if it was alright to give him enough money to buy a few meals.

I didn't want to offend him or embarrass him because it's awkward for him to be doing that in the first place, but he accepted, thanked me and gave me a wide, toothless smile. I could see that he was undernourished and suffering malnutrition. I wish I could do more to change things in this world. I wish I could have offered him a job or more long lasting assistance.

I'm a bit wary with some of the homeless folks. Some of them are sitting surrounded by empty booze bottles and they don't look underfed, only unkempt. I presume that they are fed by the soup kitchens and charities at night so that any donations that go their way are spent on booze and drugs. The average homeless person in Australia living on the streets for 11 years. What can we do to help them?

If that same homeless gentleman had sat there and waited for donations, I'm sure he would have received enough to buy some meals, instead he was proactively going through the bins and not waiting for handouts. In some ways, it demonstrates to me that he is trying to live his life instead of waiting for charity. It makes me wonder, what happened in his past, that led him to this future.

The greatest money making secret in history

The theory of giving

ThinkBIG, the magazine had an interesting article written by Joe Vitale a few years ago. I thought I'd write about it because, in some wacky ways, what he wrote is rather true. Don't get me wrong, I actually don't find money something that must be hoarded and wrapped in tissue paper. I think that we should be responsible for our future.

I have a little fear. I fear that if something happens to me and I can't support myself, I fear being a burden to others. I fear being homeless. I fear being hungry and being unloved. Perhaps those are common fears? But to prevent those options from arising, I live my life to a certain extent to ensure that if something happens to me, I won't become anyone's burden.

So, back to Joe and his interesting approach to money thoughts (this, being a money/financial blog), he wrote:

"What is the greatest moneymaking secret in history? What is the one thing that works for everyone? Give money away. That's right. Give it away. Give it to people who help you say in touch with your inner world. Give it to people who inspire you, serve you, heal and love you. Give it to people without expecting them to return it - but give it knowing it will come back to you multiplied from some source."

It's fascinating that John D. Rockefeller was quoted in 1924 saying, "...in the beginning of getting money, way back in my childhood, I began giving it away, and continued increasing the gifts as the income increased..."

Give freely. Giving may lead to receiving. Giving may lead to more wealth. Who knows until you try it?! Another interesting tidbit involved the quantity of your gifting:

"If there's one thing I think people do wrong when they practice giving, is that they give too little. They hold onto their money and let it trickle when it comes to giving. And that's why they aren't receiving. You have to give, and give a lot, to be in the flow of life to receive...

I love inspiring stories. I read them, listen to them, share them, and tell them. I decided to thank Mike Dooley of tut.com for the inspiring messages he shares with me and others everyday by email. I decided to give him some money.

In the past I would have given him maybe five dollars. But that's when I came from scarcity and feared the giving principle wouldn't work. This time would be different. I took out my chequebook and wrote a check for US$1,000.

Mike was stunned. He got my check in the mail and nearly drove off the road as he headed home. He couldn't believe it.... And then something wonderful began to happen. I suddenly got a call from a person who wanted me to co-author his book, a job that ended up paying me many times over what I had given away...

Give time and you'll get time.
Give products and you'll get products.
Give love and you'll get love.
Give money and you'll get money.

Think of the person or persons who have inspried you over the last week. Who made you feel good about yourself, you life, your dreams, or your goals? Give that person some money. Give them something from your heart. Don't be stingy... Give without expecting return from that person, but do expect return."

When Joe gave miserly, he reflects that he also got little in return. Which is why he decided to test the theory of giving. In many ways, he really is right. When you give generously, you feel good and you also make someone else feel good.

In terms of giving products, that's probably how bartering came into existence. Someone had too much of some fruit or vegetable, decided to share it with their neighbours, next thing they know, the neighbours decided to share their excess produce too. Next thing you know, the entire village is involved. And everyone benefits.

Random(and not so random) Acts of Kindness

Some friends and relatives give a lot of themselves. Their time, their care and their love. Because of that, it makes me very appreciative and similarly want to give my time, care and love in return. If it works in that way, then why can't it work in the financial sense too? Sounds interesting in a convoluted way.

Not everyone has money to give away of course. So if you don't have money to give away, give away your time or your love and affection. Tell them how much you care and appreciate them. It's like the RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) concept. The www.actsofkindness.org has some really great ideas about things you can do that make others happy, which in turn, can make you happy too.