From Homelessness to Sanctuary: Meet the Organisation Furnishing Vacant Homes for Domestic Abuse Survivors
11/06/2024
Congratulations to Worthy Australia, the winner of the 2024 Community Volunteer Organisation of the Year Award.
Worthy Australia are the well-deserving winners of the Community Volunteer Organisation of the Year Award for their incredible work helping women and children facing homelessness caused by domestic violence. Through their primary Safe Haven program, Worthy Australia turns empty houses into fully furnished homes for their clients, who are referred to them from frontline domestic violence crisis services.
The organisation was founded by Jennifer Ball, who found a gap in the post-crisis phase of support in the domestic violence sector. “Once a woman and her children need to leave refuge, there is no support to rebuild their lives,” said Jennifer. “I was determined that my charity organisation would provide all of the items necessary in a home, but it would also be beautiful. It would be tailored to each individual client; it would instil pride and dignity and self-worth.
“It took months of planning and relationship building with sector heads in the domestic violence sector. You can’t just decide to start a charity and expect refuges to hand their clients over to you. I had to prove that I understood the nuances and challenges of the sector, that I understood and took seriously the confidentiality and safety concerns. I had to prove that I had a model that would work alongside the refuges, providing them assistance as well as their clients. After a year, we received our first safe haven referral… And they haven’t stopped coming in since.”
Many women remain in domestic violence affected homes due to lack of financial independence, leaving them trapped in a cycle of abuse. Those that do flee their home often must leave in brief, opportunistic moments, with little more than the clothes on their back.
As a result, these women find themselves in refuges or shelters with no means to provide for themselves or their children. Once in the refuge it is easy for women to feel hopelessness, self-doubt, and worried for the future. Setting up a home is an overwhelming task.
That’s where Worthy Australia comes in. The organisation works tirelessly to transform empty houses into welcoming homes for those escaping domestic violence, providing them with a beacon of home for the future and a space they can safely live in with their family. For many women, leaving domestic refuge would not be possible without Worthy’s Safe Haven program.
Each Safe Haven is fully set up with gifted furniture and other belongings, taking into consideration the family’s needs and preferences. However, the Safe Havens go beyond their physical properties. The homes provide families with safety, comfort, hope and the promise that they can rebuild their lives again after the trauma they’ve suffered.
Jennifer has had many emotional moments that have stayed with her. “I think for me the most emotional was one of our first safe havens. Our client and her two small children had already been living at a property for a month after leaving refuge. They had no support to furnish the house but if they didn’t stay there, they would have been on the street. We received the referral and attended the home. What we saw was truly heartbreaking, and as a mother, my heart dropped. This mum and her children had been sleeping on the floor… Instead of a fridge, was a small esky with long life milk in it. Next to the esky were two small lunch boxes with remnants of cereal in them. Mum couldn’t afford bowls, so she would reuse the children’s lunchboxes during meal times.
“This mum was my age, her children were similar ages to my son and I thought, ‘What has this mother been through that makes this the better option? How are we allowing women and children to live like this in Perth? In Australia?’
“We created a home for this little family. When we presented her home to her, we cried together. She broke down when she saw the beautifully made beds for her children, a gorgeous bedroom of her own, a fridge and freezer…. bowls for the cereal… and every other item you can think of to make a home a home. I knew the safe haven program was needed and important before I met this family, but afterwards it really drove home that this program was vital.”
The program also provides refugees with confidentiality. Worthy Australia provides a safe link between the community and crisis refuges so that volunteers can help those who need it most, without compromising the safety and privacy of clients and addresses of refuges. The team achieves this by ensuring rigorous privacy and confidentiality protocols are met.
Worthy Australia have had a very successful 2023, transforming 34 vacant homes into fully functioning homes. Worthy excelled in many areas during the year, including securing three grants, welcoming three major sponsors, event coordination, advocacy, and doubling their social media following.
Worthy Australia are members of Volunteering WA, which has provided the team with tools and advice to help them find success. “The educational resources have been fantastic. Being able to advertise through Seek for volunteers has been hugely advantageous as well. Now that we have a warehouse—a safe and large space for larger volunteer groups—we can finally look into corporate volunteering which I will absolutely seek guidance and support for from Volunteering WA.”
The hardworking team behind Worthy Australia are another key driver behind their success. Each volunteer is wholeheartedly committed to helping women start their lives over again, going above and beyond to make the transition as easy as possible.
“We do our best to provide a safe and welcoming environment for our volunteers,” said Jennifer, “There are so many different ways to volunteer and contribute. Whether it’s physically setting up the safe havens, helping us collect and store donations, attending events on our behalf, fundraising, etc. We’ve always got jobs to keep people busy and we make a point to work with everyone’s strengths to ensure that everyone gets to make an impact that works for them.”
As 2024 continues, the team at Worthy plans to focus on improving optimisation. “We recognise the importance of growing our following, donor base, sponsor base, and funding opportunities, but we also acknowledge that true sustainability comes from ensuring the strength of our foundation before seeking further growth. Once our foundations are solid, we hope to utilise our Safe Haven program to provide job opportunities for disadvantaged women as well as to begin national expansion.” said Jennifer.
Though the impact of Worthy Australia’s efforts is difficult to summarise, it can be seen in the care taken in assembling every Safe Haven, the face of every child stepping into their new bedroom, and the relief felt by a mother who can leave a violent relationship safely behind them.