host Clive Purt and guest speaker Damian Walsh

We had the pleasure of welcoming Damian Walsh, the Director of The Shopfront,   an agency of the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth. Damian told us of The Shopfront’s role in providing social assistance to the local community here in Perth.

Damain set out the history of The Shopfront which is in Bentley, and the social goals it hopes to achieve with homeless, lonely or needy people. 

The charity aims to provide some food and drink for those who call in, with  emergency food hampers to those in need. It is a place to sit and chat in a completely safe environment. In addition, volunteers refer those with health and homeless issues on to appropriate government and private agencies. Among the many incidental things The Shopfront does is to advocate for people for long term housing solutions.  

It has been operating for 26 years and Damian is its 7^th director. Damian said that drug and alcohol issues continue to be a big factor for people seeking assistance; as is poor mental health and loss of regular employment.

The COVID months had a huge impact on needy people, because everyone was limited to where they could go. The Shopfront was one of the few charitable places which didn’t close down.

The Shopfront averages 24 visitors a day. In 2025 there was an average 21 daily visitors and 18 per day in 2024.  The Shopfront has a budget of $260,000, but in one week, they spent $2000 on food which went out the door within five days. 

It is not government funded but receives assistance from some Catholic schools. Santa Maria donated so much food Damian couldn’t fit it in his van, plus $1000 in cash. 

Many visitors offer to show their Centrelink Card as proof that they are in need, but Damian and the volunteers tell them: “If we have it, we will share it”. 

Clive: "From a personal level, my volunteer duties at The Shopfront can include preparing and serving food and drinks to our visitors; writing down the names of people on a daily list; sitting and chatting with them and perhaps referring them on for an interview; and washing up and cleaning.  Volunteers do one or two shifts a week – John, who is 91-years-old, sits on a stool and washes dishes.  All visitors, regardless of their circumstances, are treated as human beings and not a number". 

For Rotary members, Damian’s presentation on behalf of The Shopfront was a reminder of the need to consider others who are less fortunate and a way that is a hands-on and pro-active way to help them and show that they have a safe and welcoming place to go.

Join Rotary members and friends for a productive morning/afternoon in the fresh air helping bring back some biodiversity to our precious Banksia Woodlands through planting native seedlings.

This volunteer opportunity is made possible with SERCUL (South East Regional Centre for Urban Landcare) and funding from Bupa and Landcare Australia.

Location: Piney Lakes 555 Leach Hwy, Winthrop WA

Parking: There is a carpark to the left when you enter from Leach Highway (marked yellow on map picture) 

Planting: The planting will occur in a degraded Banksia Woodland to the north east of Piney Lakes along a sandy track (marked blue on map picture). We will be planting a mixture of banksia and tree species along with understory plants suitable for a changing climate. SERCUL will ensure all plants, and planting equipment are at site beforehand. SERCUL is also planning to auger holes prior to the event. The goal is to plant 3000 plants per day.

What To Bring: Participants will need to bring enclosed shoes, gardening gloves (although SERCUL will bring some spares), sunsmart clothes that can get dirty, water bottle, hat, sunscreen and wet weather gear. 

Prior to the planting a SERCUL staff member will give a quick safety brief, run through a site JSA (Job Safety Analysis)and a planting demonstration.

Saturday 1pm start, finish approx 5pm, with sausage sizzle/snacks at end

Sunday 8:30am start, finish approx 12:30pm, with morning tea break around 10:30am

All Rotary clubs, Rotaract clubs and members of the general community are welcome to participate. Registration is essential for safety, insurance and catering.

The following is a report from Erin Hegarty (CEO MAMA RESPOND) on her attendance at an International conference held in Melbourne and supported by Applecross Rotary.

I'm back from Melbourne and am finally coming up for air after a very inspiring week of feminist discussions. I attended four days of the conference with 7.30am starts, listening to feminists from around the world, form all sort of professions, talk abbot women issues and successes. 

One theme that ran argon throughout the conference was the notion of women at the decision-making table. One particular breakout session dissected how the healthcare system was not designed with women needs in mind and therefore, women are experiencing delayed diagnosis around the world, including Australia. For example, endometriosis has an average diagnosis phase of 12 years in Australia! Fast and appropriate diagnoses are needed to get women on the right care journey to avoid shortened lifespan. 

In this same discussion led by Simone Clarke, CEO of UN Women, Australia, it was noted that Australia is limping ahead in our SDG goals towards gender equality and will not make our 2030 goals. It’s interesting that a country so forward moving and advanced has so far to go. It also highlights the need to deliberately focus on gender equality, or it seems to just slip away. 

I was nosy and inspired by the flyers and information distributions in the Exhibition Hall. I picked up a lot of info and one flyer really stood out. It simply says, “A girl born today will have to wait until her 97^th birthday to see gender equality achieved globally”. This has really stuck with me for two reasons. Firstly, wow and how disappointing that we are that far away. And secondly, I know exactly what this organisation does just by reading that statement. Mama Respond doesn’t have statement like this. 

It’s been perfect timing actually, because I just bought on a volunteer Health Promotions Officer and so we’re working on our statement to ground our work in. So that when people see out website or our work, they understand the space we’re working in and what we’re working towards. In this same sense, I realised that we are not strong enough in our advocacy. Go hard or go home. We are upping our commitment to the cause, refining what the cause is and how we bring people along with us. 

I also listened to a presentation called Voices of Change: Faith Leaders on the Frontline of Adolescent Health and Wellbeing supported by the Minderoo Foundation. I joined this discussion because I wanted to challenge my biases towards faith leaders in Africa and boy did I learn a lot. Fatih leaders are trusted members of society and in Kenya alone, faith leaders have a 79% trust rate, especially amongst women and girls. So, this got me thinking, how can we mobilise these leaders to break down stigmas and barriers around disabilities? Can we gather faith leaders and educate them on disabilities, use them to mobilise people affected by disabilities and use their spaces as safe zone for these people? Work with them rather than against them. 

I also realised that we are working in the Care Sector. ‘Care’ was a new term to me and so it's opened a whole new language base and space for our work. Care intros context meaning caretaker work - smothering, cleaning, household management, etc. This is exactly the space our beneficiaries live in. Now we can talk about Care and our contribution to the sector. 

I met so many amazing people but one really stood out. Her name is Penenah and she is the Founder of Wow Mom, and they establish daycare centres in marketplaces, and they have an MOU with the City of Nairobi. We are discussing how we can support to make their daycare centres inclusive. 

And this is just scratching the surface of the networks, information, and ideas I've come back with. 

I'm deeply grateful to Applecross for supporting this endeavour. I know it supported just me as such, but the ripple effect is major. 

Looking forward to talking about it more.

Anyway, thanks again and I’ll be emailing a newsletter our next week with our plea for final donations for the year, so keep an eye out for that! 

Erin 

Erin also brought along to our meeting on Tuesday their Journey Together magazine introducing an unique opportunity for “A Boutique Cultural Safari Through Kenya”.

       for magazine