By Holly McGuinness
Over 116,000 Australians experience homelessness each night in Australia and Inspire Hope aims to support those included in that figure in Brimbank.
Founded by Tamara Carr in 2020 and with a dedicated team of volunteers they provide support to those in need.
“We’ve met people sleeping in cars, tents, under bridges, on park benches, in abandoned houses.” Ms Carr said,
“And for the most part these people have the most heart wrenching life stories, they show their vulnerabilities and ask for very little, I’m blessed to have formed connections with some of the most beautiful people, under the hardness of their hurt and pain there is a simple human being struggling to just get back on their feet.”
One recipient of Inspire Hope has struggled with family violence and alcoholism for much of his life but cannot be named for privacy reasons.
With Inspire Hope’s support he said that for the first time in as long as he could remember he had people to celebrate his birthday with. When asked what he wanted to change in this sector, he’s after more awareness around alcohol abuse and to feel treated like a human being within his community.
This goes a long way according to Inspire Hope but so much more needs to be done in this space, particularly with government support for affordable and safe housing, “The community can reach out to local members, parliament and start advocating for more affordable housing options,” said Ms Carr.
“They can contact council when they come across someone they think needs help and submit a referral for us to go meet with them, they can volunteer with us or other community groups.”
