By Dongyun Kwon
Over 14 months of hard work finally came to fruition for Holy Fools.
The Felix House, Holy Fool’s new homelessness resource centre, was finally unveiled to the public.
Holy Fools has supported homeless people for over 15 years by hosting community lunches, providing swags and blankets and offering information.
The organisation was dedicated to opening a new drop-in centre to provide a shelter for homeless people with accessible facilities.
Holy Fools founder and chief executive officer Neal Taylor said it’s good to see the massive journey getting done.
“It’s been a lot of hard work, and it’s just really good to feel that it’s open and working now,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of people who have actually started coming in and using the facilities. So, it’s proven itself already within the first two weeks of having the doors open.”
The grand opening of the Felix House was held on Friday 2 May, and dozens of community members gathered to celebrate the accomplishment together.
The Felix House, located at 19 Hutchinson Street in Lilydale, has been equipped with an accessible shower and toilet, laundry facilities, and a kitchenette for homeless people to get off the streets and relax.
The centre was named after a Sri Lankan man Felix who had worked with Holy Fools several years ago.
“He was homeless. He had moved out to Lilydale to escape the city and the drugs that were in the city. He was trying to detox himself from heroin, and he got involved with us when we had our last drop-in centre with the Salvation Army,” Mr Taylor said.
“He became a real central figure of the place. He was always involved in our barbecues, cleaning up or the family nights, whatever.
“Unfortunately, he passed away several years ago from a heroin overdose. But he had such an impact on our lives, we wanted to honour him and to say if this had been around for him, it would have made much more of a difference in his life.”
Yarra Ranges councillors Tim Heenan and Casey MP Aaron Violi gave a speech to congratulate Holy Fools’ achievement.
Mr Taylor said Holy Fools will start trying to get other groups involved in the drop-in centre’s future programs.
“We’ve been talking with the veteran group to maybe get someone from them to come down,” he said.
“We’ll probably get a nurse to come down at one stage.
“We’ve got Anchor maybe coming down to work with people.”
Holy Fools is run by volunteers and the organisation is asking for support from the community.
“We need help with keeping it running, so we need volunteers but we also need financial help because it does cost us money to run the place for all sorts of things from power to water, and even the drinks and stuff like that.
“We’re looking for some key sponsors to maybe jump in on board with that.”
For more information regarding sponsorship or volunteer, please contact Holy Fools on 1300 133 889 or info@holyfools.org.au
