Wednesday 29July 2009
Our guest speaker was Dennis O’Reilly, General Manager - Fund Raising and Community Relations for the House With No Steps. Dennis was introduced by Alan Teale.
The House with No Steps had its origins in 1962 when Lionel Watts who suffered a bout of Polio in the 1950’s went into respite care and was appalled with what was provided in the facility.
The Mission statement of HWNS is ‘Helping People With Disabilities Make The Most Of Their Abilities’ and since those early days in 1962 the HWNS has supported children and adults with an intellectual, physical, sensory and/or psychiatric disability to live,
learn, work and connect to the community.
1 in 5 of the population (say 4.2 million) has a disability and of these 1.3 million have a profound disability. HWNS supports 2000 people in 150 locations throughout NSW and Queensland. Of these 2000 people 90% have intellectual disabilities and 10% have a combination of psychiatric, physical and sensory disabilities.
HWNS runs many businesses both in NSW and Queensland. Amongst these are Landscape Maintenance services to the M2. M5 and M7 Motorways in the greater Sydney area. A Therapeutic Manufacturing facility in the Hunter Valley assembles DNA Testing Kits for all Australia requirements. Summerland House at Alstonville on the North Coast is a working farm growing Macadamias and Avocadoes and has an attached fruit packing facility which is the largest in the region. There is also a Café and Function centre located here. There are 2 commercial laundries operating in the greater Newcastle area. A bakery at Forbes produces a wide range of biscuits especially for the Hotel/Motel trade. Closer to home there is a café called the Upper Crust Café at Normanhurst which as well as operating as a café also has a catering business. In all of these establishments HWNS employs people with a wide range of disabilities who are supported in their endeavours by able bodied people who are dedicated in ensuring that those with disabilities are able in some way to contribute to the overall economy.
HWNS has an independent living program where people with disabilities are assisted into shared houses and taught the basic skills of housekeeping. At this point there is an unmet need for accommodation for at least 2000 people. In addition HWNS offers respite care to those who are involved for the caring of those with long term disabilities. There are 15 such centres across NSW and Queensland.
In the last year HWNS had income of 78 million dollars of which 52 million dollars came from State and Federal governments and 16 million dollars was raised from the public.
After a series of questions Dennis was thanked by PP Grahame True.