A Geelong charity that has been feeding the homeless for 32 years has been given months to find a new home or face permanent closure.
The Outpost provides a hot meal, access to clothing and personal hygiene items, and even food for pets of the homeless, 365 days a year.
The landlord, which wants to sell its Transit Place location in the CBD, had initially given The Outpost a date of June 2022 to move out, but has extended the deadline to December.
However the not-for-profit charity is having trouble finding a suitable location.
The Outpost, led by a volunteer committee of management and staffed exclusively by volunteers, is run on a shoestring budget relying on cash and donations, including access to its current location.
Throughout its history, it has been one of a handful of charities that provide community services in the evenings on weekends and over public holidays.
Outpost president Raema Ash said the threat of permanent closure was very real.
“Even a garage or shed within the city limits,” she said.
“We have plumbers and builders to help us redesign something if we need to. It would have to be for very little, or no, rent.
“We haven’t come across anything as of yet. The urgency of it is getting quite real. We are trying to let the community know.”
Ms Ash said Outpost receives people from Corio, Whittington and Newcomb to name a few suburbs, so the new premises needed to be centrally located and near public transport, but not within a residential neighbourhood.
“We get about 10 people in for the lunches and about 20 at night for meals,” she said.
“It’s more of a social group. A lot of people when they are homeless, they don’t talk to anybody and nobody talks to them. We hope to try and get something within the city limits.
“It can be any empty shop front. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
“There are no referrals to access The Outpost – people can just turn up.
“Whoever presents for a meal we serve. We know there are limited options if you need help in the evenings and especially on the weekends – hunger doesn’t know what time it is.”
Community members with suggestions or access to suitable locations are invited to contact Amy Flint at theoutpostgeelong@gmail.com
