Chris Hemsworth wants to smash homelessness

The Canberra Times

The Thor star has seen first-hand how the homeless and vulnerable are suffering in his home town of Byron Bay. He has put his hand up to help - and wants others who can to do the same

Transcript

00:00A bit of ironing while you're there too, Chris?

00:02A bit of ironing, yeah. A bit of washing.

00:06Okay, shall we keep making burgers while we're here?

00:08Yeah.

00:10So what's on the menu today?

00:12We've got beef,

00:14vegetarian, and

00:16chicken stew.

00:18Chicken stew with burgers.

00:20Although, if you want a

00:22descriptive thing, it's two more beef patties

00:24first of all, so let's change people's minds.

00:27So I'd be better than that.

00:29They are as well.

00:31They are. It's all

00:33very high quality.

00:35I'm going to make up some more of these.

00:50I moved here about ten years ago

00:52and fell in love with the place

00:54and like everyone was

00:56shocked to hear about the issue of homelessness

00:58and how prominent it was here.

01:00And I heard about the work that Fletcher Street

01:02College and that we as we're doing

01:04and was motivated to get involved

01:06and contribute.

01:08There's some incredible work being

01:10done here. Very vulnerable

01:12individuals come through the door, people from

01:14various walks of life and different experiences

01:16who are in desperate

01:18need of support and compassion

01:20and empathy and that's what this place

01:22provides as well as a hot meal,

01:24shower,

01:26laundry and also a

01:28team of people to offer advice and

01:30support on how to get back on the path

01:32that they prefer to be on.

01:34Very impressed by the work that

01:36the team do.

01:38Can you tell us what the support means?

01:40The ongoing support means from people like Chris?

01:42Without any ongoing

01:44government support, we rely on

01:46philanthropic donations to keep Fletcher Street

01:48Cottage open and thanks to Chris's

01:50support we were able to actually

01:52renovate this space to

01:54a very beautiful welcoming space

01:56for our most vulnerable community

01:58members and then Chris's ongoing

02:00support as our largest donor has

02:02meant that we can employ

02:04social workers, support staff,

02:06all the other services that we

02:08provide here. So this is really a one

02:10stop shop where you can come to

02:12and get all your basic needs met. We have

02:14a GP, we have mental health workers,

02:16we have NSW Health,

02:18we have Centrelink today, we have

02:20all sorts of wraparound services so

02:22to pay for a lot of the

02:24staff that we need, we need

02:26funding. We can't rely solely

02:28on volunteers. Even though we have

02:30three times as many volunteers as staff

02:32we do need those specialist staff

02:34to support our community and

02:36thank you Chris. Absolutely, thank you.

02:38I'm in a

02:40fortunate position to be able to

02:42contribute but the fact

02:44that this is available to

02:46the vulnerable people in need

02:48is thanks to you and the team so

02:50huge sense of gratitude.

03:16...

03:18...

03:20...

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