The St Vincent de Paul Society aspires to shape a more just and compassionate society for all. At the heart of this aspiration is the work of our community inclusion services where everyone is made to feel welcome and accepted.

Our services across this directorate act as valuable lifelines for people in need of social connection and improved wellbeing with programs led by staff and volunteers offering life skills classes, creative forms of self-expression, and furthering educational and employment opportunities.

The continued disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically the statewide restrictions imposed during the first third of the financial year, required many of these services to adapt in line with advice provided by NSW Health. Services have since resumed face-to-face operations with safety measures in place to ensure the wellbeing of the people we assist; a creative arts exhibition showcasing artwork and music produced at the Ozanam Learning Centre was able to belatedly take place early in the 2021/22 financial year after a three-year hiatus.

The Society’s work in promoting community inclusion aims to empower individuals with confidence to take control of their lives. Some of our major accomplishments throughout the financial year in this area include:

• The Inner West Men’s Shed provided a welcoming environment for locals to come together and undertake a variety of projects, such as respraying Vinnies donation bins, reducing roadside waste in the Inner West Council by upcycling furniture, refurbishing benches and fences at services operated by the Society and much more.
• Creative Space continued to support people through creative arts and establishing a supportive community for allcomers in the Southern Highlands region. Close to 100 people accessed the service in-person, welfare check-ins via phone, and mailing creative packs directly to participants.
• The Ozanam Learning Centre offered 8,150 instances of service where community members participated in programs ranging from gardening, to job readiness workshops and art workshops, to cooking and nutrition classes.
• Vinnies Connect, a service supporting 26 people experiencing varying levels of isolation with friendship and mentoring with the aim of building confidence and connections in the community.
• The Inner West Men’s Shed provided a welcoming environment for locals to come together and undertake a variety of projects, such as respraying Vinnies donation bins, reducing roadside waste in the Inner West Council by upcycling furniture, refurbishing benches and fences at services operated by the Society and much more. An additional 212 people were supported through our Ozanam Outreach services Louise House and Gorokan.
• North Coast Settlement Service, located in Coffs Harbour and Lismore, supported 517 newly arrived migrants to participate in the local community with 2279 instances of service provided over the financial year.

“It’s like falling off a bike and getting back on again.”

Julie hadn’t played the guitar in over 30 years. Now, in her sixties, she’s recorded a song.

“I’m grateful that happened to me; there’s times when I would think ‘I’d like to pick up the guitar and play something.’”

Penning Oh Koala in the space of a night for Songbirds, an album of original music written and recorded by members of the Ozanam Learning Centre community, Julie’s introduction to music came decades earlier.

“When I was at school, my mum managed to scrape enough money together to do guitar lessons; I went to one of the local music outlets and learnt Spanish Flamenco,” Julie recalls.

Continuing to play throughout her teenage years and attaining a second grade certificate of performance through the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the financial pressures of life post-school saw the guitar “slip through my fingers a bit”.

Living a well-travelled life throughout Australia, after picking up the travel bug by working on prawn trawlers as an adult, a return to Sydney paved the way for Julie to pick up the guitar once more, prior to the onset of COVID-19.

Coming to the Ozanam Learning Centre in 2019, after first interacting with the service while participating in a local theatre company, the opportunity to take brush up guitar lessons from the centre’s musical coordinator led her to the Songbirds song writing program.

With the program predominantly taking place online during lockdown, the weekly Zoom sessions helped give shape to Julie’s song Oh Koala, a commentary on the state of the environment in the guise of a children’s song.

“[Songbirds program coordinator] Murray said, ‘We need to do something about the koala.’ It was on my mind – before I went to bed one night, I thought, ‘I’ll sit down and write a little poem about the koala.’

“As usual, I have my radio on until I go to sleep and a song came on the radio, I thought, ‘Aha, that’s it!’

“So, I was up until 5 o’clock colouring the song – that’s how it came along.”

Making the song a musical signature during her weekly on-air program broadcast on Radio Skid Row, Julie is active in the Inner West at the community radio station, crafting garments sold locally and being a part of the Ozanam Learning Centre community.

“The staff are great. I’ve made a couple of friends from the women’s library there.

“It’s all very well done – everyone who goes there has a huge amount of respect.”

The St Vincent de Paul Society NSW, in partnership with the Community Restorative Centre, has released Songbirds, an album of original music written and recorded by members of the Ozanam Learning Centre community.

Songbirds is available to stream/purchase on bandcamp.