Sunisa's blogs

Hello, Donkey Wheel House!

by Sunisa on 2 July 2010

STREAT has found a new home. A heritage-listed beautiful building that used to be the old tramways station. We spent the last week in boxes and this week in our new diggs. We are now located at the deliciously-named Donkey Wheel House, at 673 Bourke Street. It’s the home of another social enterprise, Kinfolk Café, that is keeping us fed and watered as we get settled. Hub Melbourne is also located here, making this one big creative and social community. It’s pretty amazing.

The wonderful interior architect Guy Matthews has been helping us design our space.  It’s definely a work in progress, (click to see the Facebook album) but just imagine what we could do with the bright white spaciousness —we’re already working with some artists to do paste ups on the walls and have grand plans for couches, creative hots desks, and more.

Watch this space to see how the Donkey Wheel collaborative grows.

Listen up Melbourne

by Sunisa on 24 June 2010

Tomorrow we'd like to invite you down to the STREAT carts in Fed Square to hear Paul Dillon who will be busking in front of our carts from 11-2pm. Paul is a singer/songwriter who is in Melbourne to perform a tribute show to Cat Stevens at the Melbourne Atheneum, called Wild World. He happened to be walking by the carts last week and asked about what we do. When he heard that we're a homeless youth social enterprise, he asked if he could show his support for us by busking for a few hours. Paul used to be homeless on the Mornington Peninsula and feels strongly about the issue. 

So... if you're in and around Melbourne on Friday, bring your friends and colleagues for lunch at the carts and hear some good music while you're at it. And if it's raining, Paul will still perform but in the Atrium.

The details are:

Paul Dillon at STREAT's Fed Square food carts (located in St Paul's Court unless raining & then in the Atrium)

Friday 25th June

11am-2pm

Leadership in the social sector: what do we need?

by Sunisa on 11 June 2010

It’s not everyone who thinks of them self as a leader. Some of us rush into the title, shouting me! I lead! I do good things, big things, things of note and importance. And then there are others who are more reticent to use the title. What’s leaderly about caring about the person on the side of the street? What’s lead-ful about thinking that everyone matters? Can you be a leader at the age of 20? And what is the leadership that we need today?

I was just at Melbourne’s first event run by the Emerging Leaders for Social Change, or ELSC. Bec was one of the three speakers. Her career as a leader started as a pathfinder, a kind of girlscout that children could join when they turned 9 ¾. You can bet she was first in line, the moment that grand day came. And her journey towards being a leader was a series of little steps, like a pathfinder collecting merit badges and skills. She learnt small things like “collaborate”, and “acknowledge that you don’t know,” and the importance of telling the stories the matter, the stories you believe in, until you turn blue in the face. These findings in turn led to big, audacious things, like when she eventually asked “What if we could stop youth homelessness just by eating?” Indeed. What if?

There were a lot of ideas about leadership being thrown around, and people asking questions, like do you lead as an individual? Or should a leader be seen as a catalyst for team efforts? Who matters anyway, a leader, or the first follower? (If you haven’t seen the video by now, it is time.)  A lot of people quoted Gandhi, saying that we should all try to “be the change we wish to see in the world.” Leadership happens by example.

Sandy Blackburn-Wright, in town to launch ELSC in Melbourne, said something important when she introduced the organisation. She said “We’re trying to emerge a different style of leadership in whatever organization we are in, in whatever family we’re from, in whatever street we’re on. As a movement this should grow freely, without border or boundaries.” So we have no answers today about the leadership Australia needs to move towards a sustainable future. But at least we’ve begun asking the right questions.

Wishes for Buddha Day

by Sunisa on 24 May 2010

Buddha’s Day is celebrated here in Melbourne in commemoration of the day that the Buddha achieved enlightenment. Where I’m from we call this Visakha Bucha Day, but I get that “Buddha’s Day” is easier to say.

It was an auspicious occasion for STREAT. We had our food carts trading through the weekend for the occasion, and did a bustling trade. Fed Square is a busy place to be during events. On Saturday we did a papaya salad cooking demo so that everyone can have some rocking vegetarian som tam in their life. We also had a tent with information on our works. To those of you who came out and met us—it was great getting to chat.

The organisers put on a Bodhi Tree installation for the occasion. The Bodhi Tree is venerated by Buddhists as a holy tree because it’s what the Buddha sat under when he achieved enlightenment. For the weekend, people attending the festivities could write their wishes on a leaf which was “planted” into St Paul’s Court. Take a look at Andrew’s wish in the banner image above. Lets work to make policy changes like this come true.

STREAT is selling t-shirts!

by Sunisa on 11 May 2010

At STREAT we’re always looking for ways for you to show your support and help us stop homelessness. Our latest idea? T-shirts. Spunky, fun shirts custom-printed to order on soft American Apparel cotton.

We’ve got all sorts of colours for you to choose from—light and dark grey, red,  maroon, black, cream, and white—and fits come in standard t-shirt, long-sleeved, girlie fit and hoodie. Have a play on the Red Bubble website where you can see how the shirt colour looks with the design. Then put your order through their e-commerce system.  

Have fun!

Click here to go to Red Bubble's website and order a t-shirt.