Stories
I started giving to the Brotherhood of St Laurence after finishing university and getting a full-time job. This time was in itself the culmination of several years of getting onto my feet.
Over 40 years ago, a ground-breaking business appeared on a street in Mount Waverley, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. One of Australia’s first opportunity shops, it was established by the Brotherhood of St Laurence’s Women’s Auxiliary and remains a successful business as well as a meeting place for the community.
Refugee and immigrant students may not have ideal environments in which to study for high school. But with a quiet space and some support for assignments and exam study, school work can dramatically improve. That’s the philosophy behind the Brotherhood’s Homework Centre, which is run after school at the Fitzroy Library in inner Melbourne with the help of volunteers such as Michael Kennedy.