After more than a year of renovations, St Vincent de Paul’s Micah House is ready to re-open.
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“At 12 o’clock Monday, our doors will be wide open,” said central council president Jenni Duff.
Not only has the Gurwood Street building undergone an entire transformation, its name has seen a reboot too.
“It’s not just a house, it’s a hub now,” said Ms Duff.
“It’s got a new business model [that will] now provide case workers to help struggling families get the internal and external care they need.
“As well, we’ll be able to continue all the emergency relief we give.”
Since the project began in July 2017, the Micah House team of volunteers has been operating out of a smaller complex on Edward Street.
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Back in its central location, the hub will be able to collaborate more closing with its neighbours.
“We’re just down the road from Edel Quinn, and we’ll be able to share case workers,” said Ms Duff.
“We weren’t able to do that before, so now we’ll be able to create another service to provide internal and external referrals to everyone who needs the help.”
Though unplanned, the completion of works could not come at a more opportune time.
“Coming into Christmas is always a tough time, we generally see a lot more people coming through our doors,” said Ms Duff.
“We didn’t really know when the building would be finished, so it’s been good timing.”
Each year, the team deliver between 250 to 400 Christmas hampers, and Ms Duff expects this silly season will render an even greater increase.
“I can imagine it's going to be a busy year for our hampers. With the drought going on, there’s a lot of people who will need an extra hand,” said Ms Duff.
“For some, it’s food and others its finance. A lot struggle to get presents for the kids, so our hampers have everything, even some toys.”
The hamper driver is bolstered by many volunteers from both the private and public sector.
“We get a lot of support from the commercial sector, from high schools and the men’s shed. They come by to help us pack the hampers. Without their help, it’d be a big load on us.”