By Parker Mckenzie
Founder of the long running charity Soupees Gavin Smith would like to see more done to address the housing crisis and homelessness as the institution celebrates its 14th birthday.
On Friday 24 February, Soupees celebrated with a street party outside the Marquee on Upwey Main Street from 3pm to 7pm, where it has been a fixture in the local community.
Mr Smith said out in the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges, there was a severe lack of emergency accommodation for those struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic, domestic violence and escalating rents.
“I’ve been asked I don’t know how many times, where can we go? The only thing that you can do is go to a rooming house, and they are notoriously bad places for women and families, but that is the only alternative,” he said.
“Politicians like to talk a lot about building social housing but in reality, we need well in excess of 100,000 and it doesn’t look like they’re coming anytime soon. There needs to be much greater urgency.”
Started in 2009 by Mr Smith, the Soupees provides meals, blankets and other assistance to those doing it tough in the hills.
Mr Smith said when he moved to Australia from New Zealand, he saw a need for the service in the local area around Emerald and Monbulk.
“At the time there was a soup kitchen running out of a caravan in Cockatoo, one of the local churches down there, and I approached them and asked if I could borrow their caravan because I’d like to do a similar thing on a Friday afternoon and evening,” he said.
“After going back to New Zealand and coming back over we decided to start something in Monbulk. Noel Cliff was the mayor of the shire at the time and we asked if they have any funds to put towards the purchase of marquee, and within a week we had a cheque for the entire amount.”
Set up around Black Saturday in 2009, the charity has been providing hot meals weekly for the last 14 years.
Mr Smith said he has seen more families and children needing assistance since the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Things got quite tough as you would know and it was a good time for us to be around when people couldn’t do much, but they could go out and access a charity,” he said.
“In some respects, it has changed dramatically since we started. We ask people for donations like blankets, bags and that sort of thing, and after getting a van through a GoFundMe campaign I started taking things to the homeless community both locally and in the city.”
He said the more he and his volunteers did that, the more he discovered there was a greater need for it in the community.
“Especially last winter, I spent so much time just running around delivering things where people needed them, so that was one way it changed,” he said.
“We started a school breakfast program at Upwey Primary and that’s been going for a few years now, it’s regularly accessed during school time by probably around 30 students in a very small school.”
Sometimes there are performances and entertainment to lift spirits, and Soupees also provide necessary items like toiletries to boarding houses and other charities.
Mr Smith said there is a much greater need for bedding, blankets and sleeping bags now than ever.
“More and more people are being forced out onto the streets, unfortunately,” he said.
“I think we’ve got to try and get our priorities right and at the moment it just doesn’t seem to be happening. I’m going to try to work towards that by getting in touch with politicians just to see if we can affect some changes.”
Soupees can be found on Friday afternoons at its marquee next to Bendigo Bank, Main Street, Upwey.
