The Thor star has seen first-hand how the homeless and vulnerable are suffering in his home town of Byron Bay. He has put his hand up to help - and wants others who can to do the same
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00:00A bit of ironing while you're there too, Chris?
00:02A bit of ironing, yeah. A bit of washing.
00:06Okay, shall we keep making burgers while we're here?
00:08Yeah.
00:10So what's on the menu today?
00:12We've got beef,
00:14vegetarian, and
00:16chicken stew.
00:18Chicken stew with burgers.
00:20Although, if you want a
00:22descriptive thing, it's two more beef patties
00:24first of all, so let's change people's minds.
00:27So I'd be better than that.
00:29They are as well.
00:31They are. It's all
00:33very high quality.
00:35I'm going to make up some more of these.
00:50I moved here about ten years ago
00:52and fell in love with the place
00:54and like everyone was
00:56shocked to hear about the issue of homelessness
00:58and how prominent it was here.
01:00And I heard about the work that Fletcher Street
01:02College and that we as we're doing
01:04and was motivated to get involved
01:06and contribute.
01:08There's some incredible work being
01:10done here. Very vulnerable
01:12individuals come through the door, people from
01:14various walks of life and different experiences
01:16who are in desperate
01:18need of support and compassion
01:20and empathy and that's what this place
01:22provides as well as a hot meal,
01:24shower,
01:26laundry and also a
01:28team of people to offer advice and
01:30support on how to get back on the path
01:32that they prefer to be on.
01:34Very impressed by the work that
01:36the team do.
01:38Can you tell us what the support means?
01:40The ongoing support means from people like Chris?
01:42Without any ongoing
01:44government support, we rely on
01:46philanthropic donations to keep Fletcher Street
01:48Cottage open and thanks to Chris's
01:50support we were able to actually
01:52renovate this space to
01:54a very beautiful welcoming space
01:56for our most vulnerable community
01:58members and then Chris's ongoing
02:00support as our largest donor has
02:02meant that we can employ
02:04social workers, support staff,
02:06all the other services that we
02:08provide here. So this is really a one
02:10stop shop where you can come to
02:12and get all your basic needs met. We have
02:14a GP, we have mental health workers,
02:16we have NSW Health,
02:18we have Centrelink today, we have
02:20all sorts of wraparound services so
02:22to pay for a lot of the
02:24staff that we need, we need
02:26funding. We can't rely solely
02:28on volunteers. Even though we have
02:30three times as many volunteers as staff
02:32we do need those specialist staff
02:34to support our community and
02:36thank you Chris. Absolutely, thank you.
02:38I'm in a
02:40fortunate position to be able to
02:42contribute but the fact
02:44that this is available to
02:46the vulnerable people in need
02:48is thanks to you and the team so
02:50huge sense of gratitude.
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