Statement — DREAMBUILDERS CARE

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Extract from Hansard – 

Legislative Council, Wednesday, 31 August 2022

 

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HON LORNA HARPER (East Metropolitan) [6.34 pm]:

“Tonight, I rise to give a shout‑out to a place I visited last week in Midland called Dreambuilders Care, which is a social enterprise with the mission to serve the community at its point of need, specifically people experiencing food insecurity, which, unfortunately, is on the rise these days. It does this with a low‑cost supermarket that aims to keep the cost of groceries as low as possible; an op shop that offers quality second‑hand goods, including clothes, household goods, bric‑a‑brac, knick‑knacks et cetera; a fill‑your‑cup cafe, which I went along to last week—the coffee was very nice; and a funky community meals cafe in the evening.

 

Volunteers help to sort out the bric‑a‑brac et cetera, work in the shop and generally be there for people. They do this without judgement; whatever a person is, they do not particularly care. They are there to assist and help as much as possible.

 

I was told a couple of stories that moved me quite a lot. A dad went in to access the community meals cafe with his little girls who were aged 11 and nine. The meals are served in individual containers. The 11‑year‑old opened the container, looked at the food, closed the container and sat looking at it. One of the volunteers wondered what was going on. She walked across and asked the girl what was the matter. She assumed that the girl did not like the food, as you would. However, the young girl answered, “I was just imagining how this food will taste as I’m keeping this to take to school for lunch tomorrow as I have a basketball game and I need to eat well in preparation for the game.” There were tears at the table at that point. The team leader asked her, “If I give you a meal to take home with you for school tomorrow, will you eat your dinner now?” The young girl said yes and the lid was off and the meal eaten before you could possibly imagine.

 

Another time, a man came into the cafe for a cup of coffee. Clients can make their own drinks. He made himself a cup of coffee and filled it to the top. This gentleman was homeless and he may or may not have had some addiction issues, but he was very shaky. One of the volunteers was concerned because he was very unsteady on his feet and she thought that he might burn himself. She quickly went over to him and put a lid on his coffee cup. When she put the lid on the cup and handed it back to him, he turned around and said, “Thank you very much. Now I look like I have a real cup of coffee in my hand.” To him, seeing people walking down the street with takeaway cups of coffee was an act of being rich. To a lot of people, a takeaway coffee is an everyday thing.

 

I commend the people who work at Dreambuilders Care. I commend them for not being at all judgemental. They are there to help as many people as they can. If members are driving along Great Eastern Highway on their way to Northam and they fancy a cup of coffee, please stop by. It is situated not far from Centrepoint Midland Shopping Centre. If members have things that they can donate, it is always looking for good‑quality things. This is about a community helping others in the community, and that is what we should all be about.”

— Hansard extract