Conny Lenneberg, Executive Director Brotherhood of St. Laurence:

Reflecting on the last financial year, it truly has been unlike any other.

From the devastating bushfires, to the Coronavirus crisis and its widespread economic upheaval, it's been a year of unprecedented challenge.

Everyone in Australia has had it tough, but none moreso than those who were already vulnerable in our community.

We have directly felt the impact of this hardship through the increased demand for our services, and our teams have worked very hard to continue to support those in need against the backdrop of challenging Coronavirus restrictions.

Through this hardship however, we've seen hope and humanity, and we have renewed energy to continue the fight against poverty and inequality.

John, Coolibah Social Connection Hub participant:

I was living on the street, and I had a heart attack. I came here because I've been here before 30 years ago.

And I was very lucky that day that they had a room vacant.

Brotherhood of St. Laurence gave us all an iPad each. Because it's very lonely out there, and, uh, this tool has become a real great thing for us.

I feel things are going to start getting better.

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Supported the wellbeing and social connection of older people facing disadvantage.

Maza, participant in Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters (HIPPY):

I am a participant in this HIPPY Program, being a first teacher for my own daughter.

There's reading book activities. They do shapes, so they learn about little bit of mathematics.

Leena, participant in Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters (HIPPY):

My mum already loves for me to write ABCD.

Maza, participant in Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters (HIPPY):

It helped her with her being confident, and also the connection between me and my daughter.

You go oh wow, as a parent I've done a really good thing.

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Supported children from disadvantaged households to be school-ready

Greg Simpson, Manager, Brotherhood Books:

Brotherhood Books is an online bookstore selling donated books to raise revenue to help support the Brotherhood of St Laurence.

This year has not been comparable to any year that we've been through before.

We've been having 4-5 times more orders than we would expect in a day, every day.

This job has changed my life. 10 years later I still look forward to coming to work.

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Turned generous donations into critical funds to support our work

Zach, participant in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS):

At the age of four I was diagnosed with Autism, aka Autism Spectrum Disorder.

My first experience with NDIS was going to the building where Jason Robinson was, and he and I got along really well.

We usually talk about movies, like Star Wars, Indiana Jones.

Through the NDIS' funding, I used my money to buy a new PC that I normally do my radio segments on for Stardusk FM.

I was afraid of getting negative commenters judging my talent, but after posting my very first video, I actually received positive feedback, like 'you were born to be a star'.

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Assisted people with a disability to access services and support through the NDIS

Kira Clarke, Senior Research Fellow, Vocational Education and Training:

I've been working with my colleagues in the Youth Opportunities Team understanding the impact of unemployment for young people through this Covid pandemic, and looking at some of the ways we can understand the solutions and the types of approaches we can test with our partners and Community Programs to try and find out how we can really help and support young people to get the kind of work that they can sustain.

We've had to be pretty adaptive and creative this year during Covid.

We've been doing a lot of video conferencing with our partners on the ground in communities, to hear from them about the increasing demands on employment service providers, on employers, on trainers.

We really wanted to have an impact at all levels, for the type of practice opportunities for young people, the type of jobs, the quality and decent jobs they have access to, but also a broader social change where there's government and community investment, in creating greater opportunities for young people to reach their goals and aspirations.

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Building the evidence to drive solutions for young people and supporting them into work and education

Conny Lenneberg, Executive Director Brotherhood of St. Laurence:

On the 8th of December this year we'll be celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Brotherhood of St. Laurence.

After 90 years, we still have to fight for fairness, and justice, and compassion in this country, but it is a fight that we're determined to win.

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Brotherhood of St. Laurence

Working to create change that lasts for an Australia free of poverty

Find out more and how you can support bsl.org.au