{"id":346204,"date":"2024-03-28T18:23:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T08:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=346204"},"modified":"2024-10-14T22:09:49","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T12:09:49","slug":"pilgrims-walk-to-support-homeless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2024\/03\/28\/pilgrims-walk-to-support-homeless\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilgrims Walk To Support Homeless"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lachlan Furnell, from the Queensland Cricketers Club; Jeff Hoffard (carrying a walking stick crafted by Indigenous artist Lloyd Martin), Lisa Forbes, Auxiliary Bishop Tim Norton and ECM director and and founder Roby Curtis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 28, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pilgrims on a journey to raise $250,000 for a vital homeless shelter in Brisbane walked into Kingaroy on Thursday on Day 6 of a week-long trek to Cherbourg.<\/p>\n

The Emmanuel Pilgrimage aims to raise funds to support the ongoing work of the Emmanuel City Mission (ECM), a day-shelter currently working out of a warehouse in South Brisbane.<\/p>\n

The walkers – including Tim Norton, the Auxiliary Bishop for the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane – left Brisbane at 4:00am on Saturday.<\/p>\n

They overnighted at Lowood, Toogoolawah, Linville, Blackbutt and Nanango and will be spending Thursday night at Wondai before finishing their trek at Cherbourg on Good Friday.<\/p>\n

So far the pilgrimage has raised almost $133,000 but more funds are still needed to cover the ongoing day-to-day operational costs of ECM.<\/p>\n

This is the second time a walk to Cherbourg has been organised; last year’s event raised $143,000.<\/p>\n

Operations manager Tim Noonan said ECM was founded 14 years ago as a street mission by Roby Curtis, who is part of the team of walkers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ten years ago, it moved into a warehouse space to offer a “day sanctuary” which opens daily at 7:00am.<\/p>\n

Visitors can have a shower, do their laundry and are offered a home-cooked meal at noon.<\/p>\n

There is also free clothing available as well as take-away food. Guests can also stretch out on padded benches to take a nap …<\/p>\n

Tea and coffee – including barista-style coffees – greet them when they arrive in the morning after spending the night sleeping rough under a bridge, by the river or in Musgrave Park.<\/p>\n

Tim said ECM currently helps about 150 people every day, without receiving any State or Federal funding.<\/p>\n

About 35 per cent of its guests are First Nations, with many having a family connection to Cherbourg which is why the community was chosen as the pilgrims’ destination.<\/p>\n

Tim said demand on ECM had grown substantially over the past 18 months.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The number of hot lunches provided every week had ballooned from about 600 to 1500.<\/p>\n

“We are also now seeing a lot more women,” Tim said.<\/p>\n

“The number of women has tripled from 10 per cent to 30 per cent.”<\/p>\n

Tim said the people they helped had all the same issues in the population at large – including mental health problems and drug and alcohol addictions – but had become separated from their friends and families.<\/p>\n

There was also people caught up in the “cycle of incarceration” which occurred when they were released from prison with a few dollars and little else.<\/p>\n

ECM has about 150 active volunteers helping out, and also receives support from a number of schools.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“However, we couldn’t survive without our corporate groups,” Tim said.<\/p>\n

Amongst these are the Renegade Roasters who support ECM’s free coffees, and the Queensland Cricketers Club which donates 330 litres of milk every week.<\/p>\n

ECM will soon be on the move themselves, shifting on July 1 from the warehouse space to a nearby former homeless shelter in Merivale Street, literally just down the road.<\/p>\n