Over the Christmas and New Year period, you, our family of supporters came together to raise more than $147,000 for our Healing, Hope and Humanity Fund to assist some of our most marginalised patients. You might remember the incredible story of Joe, originally from New Zealand, who came to Australia as a child to be with his mother only to quickly realise that he was entering an environment not suitable for a child.
His journey, involving homelessness, survival in dry riverbeds and parklands, alcohol and drug dependence, and attempts on his own life was steered into a different direction thanks to a St Vincent’s social worker, who simply went looking for Joe in Hyde Park and provided caring advice to help Joe join a rehabilitation program.
Joe has not looked back since. He has been sober for close to 10 years and has gone on to study music to become an accomplished musician performing rock ’n roll, jazz and blues, country and modern tunes. Joe has been much sought after recently as a performer for weddings and Christmas parties.
The Healing Hope and Humanity Fund supports patient care for any patient who is not able to afford, or in many cases ineligible for assistance through Medicare. We again thank all our supporters for helping us continue the mission to ensure St Vincent’s can be there when anyone needs our help.