ABOUT US
Mission, Vision, Values and Achievements
Our Mission: Established in 2019, our mission is to provide a safe and nurturing place where people find immediate relief, hope, encouragement, and unwavering support to move from homelessness to safe shelter and opportunities for growth and independence.
Our Vision: To ignite purposeful and fulfilled lives.
Our Values:
Humanity and Kindness
Self Determination and Connection
Integrity and Excellence
Lead, Innovate and Collaborate
ACNC registered charity
Based in Mackay, Queensland.
Deductible Gift Recipient 1 Status, Charity Tax Concessions.
100% community funded.
Our Location
We currently operate all of our homelessness services from Chances House at 2 Endeavour Street, Mackay. Our Op Shop is located just down the road at 1/7 Victoria Street.
Meal Service
We operate Mackay's only daily homelessness meal service. We offer breakfast and lunch (Monday to Friday) alongside weekend packs. You can donate a meal here.
Drop-in Lounge
We operate Mackay's only homelessness drop-in centre ‘Chances House’ at 2 Endeavour Street, Mackay. All of our services are delivered from Chances House. It is a place where people experiencing homelessness can access resources such as phone charging facilities, storage lockers, internet, printing, telephone, toilets, music/art activities, tea & coffee station and more. (Showers coming soon!) This space also gives people a safe and inclusive place to 'be' whilst our compassionate staff and volunteers offer conversation, support, guidance and more.
Homelessness Healthcare
We assist people experiencing homelessness with accessing relevant healthcare services such as medical, dental, opthalmology and more. We will soon be establishing our own in-house Homelessness Healthcare program and will offer access to more intensive healthcare support via our Registered Nurse who will operate from our Homelessness Healthcare Clinic.
Essential Items
We offer a wide range of essential items to help make life on the streets a little easier. We offer tents, sleeping bags, insect spray, personal care items, torches, clothing, shoes, first aid supplies and more. Anything that is donated to our Op Shop which is deemed to be useful and needed for a person experiencing homelessness will not be sold - it will be kept aside for our friends on the streets.
What We’ve Achieved
We don’t just talk the talk - we walk the walk. All of this has been acheived without regular/government funding, with the help of our incredible community:
Over 120,000 meals provided since 2020
Over 800 nights of crisis accommodation provided
Over 116,250 hours of companionship, support and community provided
Over 11,000 essential items given out (tents, sleeping bags, toiletries, insect spray, deodorant etc)
Mackay’s first homelessness drop-in centre opened
Mackay’s first homelessness storage lockers acquired