Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time, a day before one of our BBQs for the Homeless and Others in Need, I posted on The Big Issue wall on Facebook, commenting on The Big Issue's encouragement of people to take paid subscriptions on this fortnightly magazine. I commented that the street vendors, who earn their living by selling the magazine, would get less sales when people got the magazine home-delivered in the mail, and that the magazine was designed to help street vendors help themselves by selling it. A lady named Bridget (whose name is not really Bridget) replied to my post talking about her life. She was a Big Issue vendor, and I won’t go into the details but she had experienced trauma at the hands of others and had had a tough life. I read her reply while walking from South Brisbane Station to Musgrave Park at about 6:45am to set up our BBQ with Grant and some volunteers, and I replied to Bridget that I was sorry she had gone through all that in her life, that I was on my way to set up a BBQ for the homeless and others in need and so that I did not have time to reply much now, but that I would reply more tonight or tomorrow.

The same evening or the next morning (I can’t quite remember) I replied more to her comment to my post on the Big Issue Facebook page and posted photos of the BBQ on Facebook, and Bridget replied on the photos: she had been to the BBQ, found some clothes, enjoyed some great food (thank you, Dalton Hospitality!) and had a great time. My surprise was huge: I had no idea she lived in Brisbane! I found a Facebook friend request from her and that was the start of a friendship.

Bridget sold The Big Issue in Brisbane and was a regular at our BBQs. Then, fast forward, while we are still doing BBQs for the homeless and others in need, Grant was opening his coffee shop “Having a Go Coffee”. A very special coffee shop that really deserves – and will get!!! - a post of its own. For those who don’t know, in brief: “Having a Go Coffee” employs only people from a background of homelessness or other hardship to help them turn their lives around, it is a suspended-coffee outlet, and 20 cents of every cup sold goes to Signal Flare, the charity that we set up but that really has been Grant’s initiative – Signal Flare, too, deserves a post of its own! “Having a Go Coffee” is also a drop-off zone for donations for our BBQs: clothes, shoes, toiletries and anything else donated for homeless and others in need can be dropped off at the shop from where it will go to our storage or straight to the BBQs.

To understand the rest of this story you need to understand the concept of suspended coffee. It's simple: suspended coffee means that you can buy a coffee but instead of having it yourself you can place a token in a jar for someone in need to have a coffee. Every generous soul can do it! Bridget regularly visited “Having a Go Coffee” to enjoy a suspended coffee. She enjoyed the coffee so much that she was often literally moved to tears because people had the goodness of heart to buy a suspended coffee for someone else, so that she too could enjoy a coffee like most people can.

Lately Bridget has been doing very well. She has been able proudly to buy a few suspended coffees for others herself and, coming from where she has come from, she was doubly proud and happy because she knew from experience what these coffees mean to people in need. To them it is much more than the ordinary coffee it is for most people: it is coffee that comes with love from another person, it shows that people care, drinking coffee in a coffee shop like other people do narrows the gap between them and others and lifts their feelings of self-worth, and because they can’t have a coffee that often it simply tastes like heaven, too!

And just a few weeks ago Bridget came into the shop, with a beaming smile, carrying bags of clothes she was donating to our BBQs. Just awesome and heart-warming. She was proud and so were we. And she knows her clothes will go directly and for free to people who really need them and are very much helped by them. Bridget is giving back to the community and it is wonderful. We applaud her and people like her. We cheer them on. They have come a long way and they show that hard times can be overcome, that people can improve their situations and deserve respect. The homeless and others in need don’t deserve the prejudice and negative attitude they so often meet: we don’t know their story and we don’t know how hard they might be working right now to get out of their situation into a better one.

To me, Bridget’s story is an inspiration. I am proud. And it all started with a post to The Big Issue… Thank you, Bridget.

I hope you will all have a great day. Give a smile or a kind word to someone on the street today; you won't know how it might lift their spirits!

Posted by Bernie the Polite Girl for The Polite Team
berniethepolitegirl@gmail.com

A Quick Post

I was walking through the city this morning and it felt so good, I must say I felt like I was home because of when I was homeless, but I must also say it felt great to remember the past because in some way I felt very proud in myself for getting on my feet and doing what I do.

A guy stopped me walking past BOQ Building and said how he heard about me on the radio and started reading my blog and wanted to say “Hi”. As good as it felt I was also guilty because I started thinking how I don’t write on here as much as what I did as a homeless person.

You see I started thinking of all the things that I can do to help that many more as I know what homeless are going through. I even started thinking that even though my new business “Having a Go Coffee” at Coorparoo is helping people, it’s not enough. So I’m proud to say I’m also working on many new projects at the same time. I won’t say what yet because I’m still working them out. But I will say, each one of my projects will help people on their feet in some way or I wouldn’t put it together.

I have in the past posted on Facebook that the shop in Coorparoo is in fear of closing because it didn’t get enough customers. Well whatever I did was the trick because people came from everywhere and the sales doubled overnight. Thank you for that, it means I can now employ more people after helping them on their feet. There’s a famous saying and that’s “the money has to go into the cash register before money can go out”. Also on a great note the Suspended Coffee’s is in the plus of 28 for the first time which means we can help that many more people. AWESOME.

I have to say I feel like I’m doing something really great knowing I’m helping so many people. Really please everyone that reads this post go out and do just one thing to help someone and see how you feel making a small or big difference to someone you don’t know. I hope you’ll feel like I do and that’s your walking on air and being proud.

I was just thinking of writing a list of all the great things I’ve done to help people in the last 2 weeks, but to be honest just once in a while I want to keep things for just me to know. I will say I’ve helped two people by paying for plane tickets to return home to their families, clothes for people that needed them, furnisher and much more. I would never ask anyone to do something I wouldn’t do.

I hope you all have a great day and thank you for reading my blog.

Grant Richards

Grant the Polite Guy

grantthepoliteguy@gmail.com

0412190011

Exciting Times

I’ll tell you now I’m more excited now than ever about things with helping homeless and people in need. I done a BBQ for the homeless and people in need at Wynnum, now we didn’t get a great number of people but I did take a step back and noticed all the new people that had come to help. New charity groups came by the bus loads.

To be honest I have never worked so little putting the event together. I would very much like to thank in a huge way Pastor Lui and crew, The Kotahi Aroha crew and The Tautoko Crew for all they done.

Now one couple really went far and beyond and that’s Katey Keating-McKee and her great husband. But I’m going to write a post on this couple later (Next Post) in full detail because there awesome.

After doing the BBQ event at Wynnum Pastor Lui is now going to be doing these BBQ’s once a month at Wynnum and helping people on a regular basis. I’m going to help him anyway I can and be proud that I started something great out that way. If you want to help with this please contact me and I’ll be very happy to pass on details.

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I HAVE DONE!!! I HAVE DONE IT!!! Well I have almost done it. Ha-ha. You see I posted here and sent out a lot of emails to get my first coffee cart. I raised enough to buy that cart and a lot of things I needed for it to be ready for operation. If you remember I am going to be helping people to get on their feet personally and then give them all the training needed, then given full time employment working the coffee cart. Plus 20cents from every coffee was going towards (Signal Flare) the homeless BBQ’s I do. So in fact I would be helping people on their feet and with just going to work and making coffee would in turn be helping others in the future. Awesome.

Everything was going great except I couldn’t get a lease for the cart in the city due to the fact my new business had no experience. Now one thing that keeps me going sometimes is the fact that I was homeless so I know what homeless and people in need are going through and I’ve achieved so much because of heart and the fact I just don’t give up.

Now sometimes I think some things are meant to be and happen for a reason, I just don’t understand why sometimes. Ha-ha. But this was meant to be because I just got approved for a shop lease which I can turn into a coffee shop. But the best part is it already has a nice looking counter and sink and things out back. It was a café/restaurant before. All I need to do is bring most of the stuff I was using on the coffee cart and put into the shop and away I go. Yes I’ll need tables, chairs, signs and a lot more, but I can do this. But here’s the best part, it’ll help maybe 12 full time staff which means I’ll be able to help at least 12 people to get on their feet, training and give an opportunity too.

Does anyone know where I can get free or cheap good second hand tables and chairs? I’m sure there’s going to be a few things needed but that’s the next thing on my list.

To make this even more helpful for homeless I’m going to be doing the “Suspended Coffee” which means people who have extra money can come and buy a coffee and it is put on hold and given to a homeless person.

Now to people reading this it may not seem like much, but to the 12 people it’ll be huge. I really wish you all could see my smile right now because I’m so happy just to be writing this. WOO HOO. Yeah.

I get the keys on Monday 19^th of August and having a Grand Opening on Saturday 24^th of August from 9am. So please add this date and come and celebrate with me for the opening of the first store.

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I want to write about a guy I have been helping along the way for a few years now, James (not his real name) has been homeless for at least 3½ years that I know of. I have seen him over time become more confident in himself to the fact I am proud of him. This morning he called me and we spoke for about an hour on the phone ( I called him back so it didn’t cost him) but I have some very exciting news. James has been in touch with his family and is ready to go home and in a way start fresh.

Now I must say I was trying hard to hold back the excitement while talking to him. He told me he had to pay a debt with getting Methadone at a chemist which he insisted on paying, but asked if I could pay for a ticket for him to go back home to his family. For me this is a huge breakthrough because I have talked about him doing this time and time again. YES now he wants too. I’m so excited right now. I can’t tell you how many “Pie’s and Cokes” I bought while talking about how everything okay to go home.

But here’s the thing. I normally pay for these things myself out of my own pocket but I can’t right now because I’m pouring all the money I can into getting the coffee shop (which is not enough) up and going to help many more people. So in saying that I’d like to know who is willing to pay for a guy to go back home after at least 3½ years  of being on the streets? It would be a plane fare to Sydney and enough money to pay for train and back to the airport and enough for drinks and of course a meal. $170 maybe.

As I said I normally pay for this myself so if anyone wants to think of this as loan then I will pay them back for this after I have setup the coffee shop.

To help please email me on grantthepoliteguy@gmail.com

I’d like to thank you all for reading my blog and I hope you all have a great day.

Grant Richards

Grant the Polite Guy
0412 190 011

grantthepoliteguy@gmail.com

Raph

Today I would like to write about Raph. Raph (short for Raphael) was Brisbane’s first Big Issue vendor. He started to sell the Big Issue sixteen years ago and has since seen many people come and go, greeted countless passers-by, always tipping his hat, bought a meal for someone in need and didn’t make a fuss about it.

 Raph was always there. I did not know Raph that well, but the many times I saw him on Adelaide Street, near Officeworks, we always said hello. Without exception, Raph was kind, polite, he always seemed to have all the time in the world, he had the elegant manners of times gone by; who still tips their hat nowadays to emphasize their hello and their respect for a fellow human being? Raph did it every time, gracing people with his kindness.

Raph suddenly passed away this past Monday, 15 July 2013. The reactions of those who knew him showed how well he had lived his life, how he touched the lives of others simply by being there the way he was. Raph was a beacon of stability in a world of constant motion, rush and impermanence. Whatever else was going on in people's lives, Raph was always there. I am sure many, many people with me can picture him, at his pitch on Adelaide Street, Brisbane, next to Officeworks. Many people saw him every day, on their way to work or out for a day of shopping and no doubt, like me, exchanged hellos with him every time.

Raph’s passing and the community’s responses show that a life does not need to be extraordinary or high-profile to touch another life. At the end of the day, the size of our bank account, the number of academic degrees, what we did for a living or the number of worldly possessions do not matter. What does matter, and what leaves a lasting imprint on people’s hearts, is the way we stood in life and how we saw and treated our fellow human beings. Raph showed nothing but respect and kindness to anyone who passed by and took the time to say hello, and that is how he will be remembered. It is how I will remember him.

As you know, Grant and I organize BBQs for the Homeless and Others in Need. Our very next Signal Flare BBQ will be at Drevesen Park in Wynnum, Saturday 27 July, from 10am to 2pm. It is a special one. We dedicate this BBQ to Raph; he provided a meal to someone in need and we will be thinking of him and honouring him by doing the same at our BBQ and also handing out clothes, shoes, toiletries and much more. Feel free to check out the link and join us if you are free:  https://www.facebook.com/events/163548047162449/

I have been told Raph did not like photos of himself. I am sure though, that he would not mind this photo being placed here. As a matter of fact, I am sure he would be touched to see how people pay tribute to him, at the place where he always was without fail, and to know that even more people will pay tribute to him in their hearts. One of the Big Issue vendors I spoke with today said he would pay tribute to Raph by making sure life goes on, and by continuing to live his life as well as he could. What can be a better legacy than that... Raph, I hope you are surrounded by the calm and reassurance you gave so many people by simply being there… May you rest in peace…

Written by Bernie the Polite Girl from the Polite Team

berniethepolitegirl@gmail.com 

Great Morning

Now I must say I have sat here at least 5 times to write here and something has always come up from getting a calls to help people to new news about the BIG BBQ event with the Guinness World Record.

But after today I thought I had to write because it may help others.

A lot of people don’t know but I don’t work for Buffed anymore. But that’s okay because I started thinking I’m better helping people when I’m in the streets. It’s where I talk to people on more of their level because I’m selling the Big Issue again. So of course if you want to buy a Big Issue magazine please come see me at Post Office Square.

But right now I want to write about my second day as a Big Issue Vendor. I went into the city early to just talk to homeless because to be honest just having someone listening to them is a huge thing for them. Well there I was talking to 3 people when one of them sort of pulled me aside and asked if I could talk to her later. I told her I would be around the Post Office Square all day.

Later she turned up and started talking about how to get help if she was on the streets. (Lots of talk happened) She ran away from home because she was grounded by her parents. She had a bad time on the streets over the few weeks she was homeless, although at first she thought it would be cool. But as time went on she didn’t want to contact her parents because of fear because she left home.

I offered to talk to them for her and as you can imagine her parents were worried. So worried that her mum took time off work to spend her days looking for her.

The young girl was worried about punishment because of leaving, when all her parents wanted was her safe and home.  

I won’t make this long but I will say I was embarrassed when the 15-16yr girl thanked me and kissed me on the cheek while the doors closed on the train for her to go home, to be honest I didn’t know which one felt better. Her because she could go back home and everything was okay or me because I helped make it happen. I just wish her and her family all the best. I will call in a few days just to say hi and see how things are going.

I know that people have asked me to name people I write about.  Are you kidding? Sometimes people hit hard times and at a low point in life and the last thing they need is someone saying I read about what happened to you a year ago or whatever the time frame is.

Now my morning got better. Remember I was just selling my Big Issue magazines. A guy came up to me as he had done thousands of times but this time it was different, I knew this guy well because when I was homeless he was too, the difference was he still was homeless and I guess for him he wasn’t ready to get on his feet. Now I want to point out that this guy had been homeless for the last 3 ½ years that I knew about.

He told me, he had been talking to his mum and how he’s an adult now and it was “time to get on me feet” but he was getting Methadone because of strong drug use. He’s going to organize to get his Methadone in Sydney and after talking to him I’m going pay his ticket to go home where his family want to help him to get back on his feet.

This is a long time coming to help this guy. But really it was worth waiting for him to want to get on his feet before acting because if I did something sooner it would have been pushing him into something he didn’t want to do. Waste of resources if someone doesn’t want the help.

This all happened before 10am. What a morning. WooHoo.

I have wrote in past posts that I’m doing coffee carts to help people in a huge way. Well let me say I have my first cart ready to go but the last 2 locations have fell through. Now I have an application for the 3^rd location. I called today to see how that was going because I felt karma must kick in here because I have helped two people just today. Well the application is in but the results not back yet. But I do hope it comes through because this location is busy enough to employ 7 people. That means I get to help 7 people to get on their feet in a huge way (Accommodation, make-over and things) and then give them training for full time employment working the coffee carts.

Let’s just hope it comes through. The biggest problem is that I need the first location so I can say it works and have experience.

I’d like to thank you all for reading my blog and I hope you all have a great day.

Grant the Polite Guy

grantthepoliteguy@gmail.com

0412 190 011

Children, homelessness and paying it forward

It all started with a huge collection of shoes coming in from the Sunshine Coast.  A lady named Sarah has a daughter who has done a shoe collection at the primary school she is attending. The number of shoes she got together for donation was enormous, and the Polite Team were lucky enough to be the recipients of those donated shoes to give to the homeless. Very humbling. And what a great way to raise your children: making them aware of those less fortunate and of their own blessings, and teaching them to give. We see those beautiful families volunteer at our BBQs as well, helping people to find what they are looking for, showing them where to go for this and that, just having conversations, serving food, and doing a great job putting smiles on our guests’ faces. Really, the generosity of people is heart-warming – just what we need as we move towards winter. There really is a lot of good still happening in the world. This weekend the shoes from the Sunshine Coast were delivered: bag after bag of men’s, women’s and children’s shoes. Just wonderful. Thank you, Shoes for Planet Earth, for putting this lady, Sarah, into contact with us! Sarah and daughter, thank you very much for your donations, brought together by the school community at the Sunshine Coast. Many people will be so happy with the shoes that will become theirs at our next BBQ event!

The shoes really got me thinking. We have always received way more adult-sized shoes than kids’ shoes, which is perhaps because people find it hard to imagine that children would go homeless. But they do. Families with children are homeless, children on their own are homeless. What chances do they have? Research shows that a lot of homeless children – being homeless in their formative years – have grown or will grow to become accustomed to homelessness and to finding homelessness their way of life, or the only life they are familiar with. They, in turn, will often grow homeless families. 

At the very first BBQ I helped organize I spoke with a man, probably in his forties, who told me he had been homeless and on his own from the age of 9. I listened to his life story and he burst into tears because nobody had listened to him before. He felt directionless, had no idea where to go or what to do. He had no one because he steered clear from the friends he used to have as they were no good. He had no contact with his family. We didn’t introduce ourselves; he had started to talk and names seemed irrelevant. We met as two human beings and that was all that mattered. At the end of the afternoon he came back to me, and told me he had made a decision: he would go to Melbourne. I wished him well and watched him walk off: a little more spring in his step.  I had never met him before nor have I seen him after; I hope he is well, that he got to Melbourne safely or that he is safe wherever he is, and in good spirits.

But back to homeless youth. The shoes that we received this weekend made me ponder on homeless children. They are a lot less visible than homeless adults. Many of them move from address to address or from this friend to that friend, they hang out in groups and they are not as identifiable as grownups. According to Homelessness Australia, 12 per cent of homeless people, or 12,133 of them Australia-wide, is under the age of 12, and 21 per cent or 21,940 homeless people are between 12 and 18 years of age.  60 per cent of children who sought help from homeless services have run from domestic-violence households, so the real number of children running from domestic violence is probably higher. They either witnessed violence at home or were primary victims of it, and hoped that life on the streets was safer than life at home. What an awful conclusion to come to for those kids. These staggering and dark numbers were just last year’s. This year's numbers are not out yet.

Our kids are our future, and their future starts where they live – whether that is in a house, in an apartment or on the streets. Childhood and adolescence are crucial in personality formation, so it is important to get it right – or as good as possible – from the start. Safety and security are a first priority, but for children on the street the levels of safety and security are minimal. On the streets those kids are much more in danger of being victims of crime than kids who are not homeless, and much more in danger of being involved in it.  Children do not deserve violence or abuse of any kind in their lives. Nobody does…

We may not be able to solve all of the world’s problems or to improve policies on homelessness, but awareness is the first step. We all have something positive to give to others. We cannot know how much our smile, words, gestures or simple kindness can touch someone’s heart, can turn a life around, can restore faith in the goodness of people, can plant a seed for a better life down the track. Even if it’s not much that we can give to others, it’s something so let’s give it. It costs nothing and it is infectious. Pay it forward!

Written by Bernie the Polite Girl from The Polite Team

berniethepolitegirl@gmail.com

Guinness World Record BBQ

I was asked advice about helping homeless and things I do. I thought “I’d kill two birds with one stone” and write a blog post and just say a few things I do.

Firstly every person is different and I adjust to what they say more than anything. I do my ‘Pie & Coke’ which is me going up to someone and just asking if they would like to join me in having something to eat and drink. The idea is to buy the food and just sit and listen. I have found most people like to talk about themselves and homeless are no different. But listening to them I get an understanding of where there coming from.

You see people are homeless because of different reasons and only a fool would think they know the reason before talking to the person. The thing I learnt quickly was that sometimes there can be a quick fix to help people and some is a long road. In a lot of cases it’s mental health, something that’s happened to them before they became homeless or just hardship that got on top of them. All of which is very important to address before even thinking of helping that person get off the streets.

But I think one of the most important things is I don’t ever sit above them, if their sitting on the grass then so am I. I talk to whoever it is as an equal and a mate. I try to understand what they have/are going through and I always offer (only) to help by contacting or giving the correct services I think would help them. Now I’d like to say this is very successful, sure a lot of people open up and I’m able to help them in a huge way, but I can say there’s heaps of homeless people I’ve not even being able to get their names. But the way I see it I manage to give them a hot meal and drink and that in itself is worthwhile.

I think that’s why I like walking around and offering to buy someone a meal and just chat. I’m just a guy trying to be a friend/mate, I don’t ask them to come to an office which some wouldn’t, I talk to them in their environment where they feel more comfortable.

Now I’m not a counsellor by any means and I’m sure they would handle things much better than anything I’d do or say. But I do the best I can, because I was homeless and I feel I do have an understanding of what they are going through. Besides I do have a great success rate and that’s better than doing nothing.

So in fact if I was to offer advice in helping ‘Homeless People’ then I would say “take the word homeless away and your left with just PEOPLE”.  I really think some people forget that they are really just dealing with people going through hard times and in a lot of cases that’s all. Whether it’s someone with Mental health, Bad past or even hardship they are people.

Now if I really wanted to get into details I’m sure I could write a book and better yet a series of books. But in my book the biggest thing to remember is that some people slide off the tracks a bit and it’s understanding why first is the biggest step.

One thing I have learnt is that if you push for helping when they’re not ready then you may get burnt and waste resources.

Now on a different note, lately I have been doing my BBQ’s every 2 months and helping a lot of homeless and people in need at one time. But because of me having Leukaemia and recent events with me having a Heart attack and a Stroke in the last 10 months I am trying to put in place a ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ for the biggest BBQ helping homeless and people in need. You see I want to show how much help is needed because of the numbers of people coming. So the next BBQ is planned to be in November. I know it means not helping people with BBQ’s every 2 months but I really feel doing this will help many more in the future if it gets the awareness of numbers out.

I’m sure there’s a lot of people will want to come on board and help with this one and to be honest I’ll need all the help I can get. Haha So please email or call me.

I’d like to thank you for reading my blog and I hope you have a great day.

Grant the Polite Guy

grantthepoliteguy@gmail.com

0412 190 011