Taking strides to support homeless community

READY TO GO: Ruby's Reunification Program's Sharon Gray and Amanda Banks were happy the community had shown so much support before the walk. Picture: Aidan Curtis.

Aidan Curtis

DOZENS from the community turned out to show their support for homeless people as a part of the fifth Pride in your Stride walk in Mount Gambier.

The walk, organised by Ruby’s Reunification Program, coincided with Homelessness Week and has become an important part of raising awareness for what the homeless community experiences on a daily basis.

Ruby’s Reunification Program senior coordinator Sharon Gray said she was blown away by the amount of support shown by the community in the lead up to the walk.

Ms Gray said the walk had been building over the last five years, with multiple local businesses setting up donation baskets to collect new or near-new shoes and other vital supplies to help improve the lives of those doing it tough.

Mount Gambier Mayor Lynette Martin was part of the crowd that made its way from Vanisttart Park to the heart of town and said the walk was a wonderful way to show the community the importance of supporting homeless people.

“As we know, the need is growing on a daily basis,” she said.

“Particularly in winter, it is even more challenging for [homeless people].

“With this walk, to have people donate shoes to provide support in that area for the homeless, I think it’s wonderful.”

Ms Martin also said she was happy to see how many students took part in the walk, with classes from Tenison Woods College providing enthusiastic and vocal support along the way.

“The more that we can make our youth aware of the challenges that exist in our community, it will make them aware of it and hopefully they will want to support the community as they grow older,” she said.

“As we know, a lot of organisations exists through volunteers and the volunteers in our community are getting older, so we really need to engage with the youth.”

Tenison Woods Catholic identity and mission coordinator Chris Lloyd said the students had recently been learning about homelessness and events like Pride in your Stride formed an important part of social justice education.

“All week, we’ve been working with students to make sure they’re aware, not only that people are homeless, but the reasons why they are homeless,” she said.

“And that we need to do more not only to support them but to change our society for the better.”

Ms Lloyd said the students were also able to better understand the roles they could play in the community to help people through similar events.

“When we’re here, we can see the organisations that do help them, so when we go back we can talk about those organisations and what they do,” she said.

“We have a commitment to looking after those people that are vulnerable in our community.”