For most citizens of the Gold Coast, the base levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (food, water, shelter, and safety) are “normality”; they are “simply there” without much further thought about it.Last Wednesday's Guest Speaker, Dianne Kozik, who is the CEO of St John’s Crisis Centre, presented us with a stark alternative: Her outline of our city’s homeless and destitute people is quite confronting. “The official figure, according to the 2021 Census, is that some 2,500 people are homeless. The reality, however, would be much higher,” she stated. Over the last 12 months, St John’s provided almost 40,000 meals, 3,500 school lunches, and temporary accommodation and even financial emergency assistance. The recent decision by the Gold Coast City Council to eliminate the tent cities in the local parks wouldn’t make it any easier.
St John’s Crisis Centre coordinates with various other organisations, such as OzHarvest (collecting donated food), Orange Sky (providing mobile laundry services) and numerous donors, both private and corporate. For instance, SnapFresh provides airline-style ready meals which can be handed out instantly.
Further, the authorities discontinued a scheme that had, without any doubt, produced results: The ‘Public Safety Liaison Officers’ (PSLOS). It was working. (Details are in the slides of her presentation in the Downloads Section on the right.) A reduction from 292 active PSLOS cases in March 2023 to 187 by January 2025. Then it was scrapped. Go figure.
Not all bad news, though: the Gold Coast Common Ground initiative for a supportive housing model is coming to fruition. St John’s has secured land from the State Government. Next step: build it. Why not volunteer at St John's? Our member Mario Fairlie does (as a Director of the Board). By the way: it will greatly assist you to fulfil the third level of Maslow's. And the fourth. And the fifth.