Salvation Army

SALVATION ARMY- MELBOURNE 614

 

During our time in the city we visited the Salvation Army, also known as Melbourne 614. The name comes from Isaiah 61:4, a bible verse. Many people think the Salvation Army is a charity but it is also based on religion. They help many homeless people find places to stay, food to eat, clothes to wear and have all the necessities of life. At Melbourne 614, there is a Cafe downstairs which is open for homeless people and also others who can come and enjoy a nice free meal. They believe everyone should be treated with respect and treated fairly. Near the cafe is an entertainment room for younger people mostly where they can come and relax and watch movies. Some kids actually designed the room and decorated it. The tour guide showed us some statistics of homeless people. In Melbournes CBD alone there are 3000+ homeless people, many with mental illnesses. There a boarding homes where people can stay, they arent very pleasant for people to stay though. It cost $165 for a week to stay there, and the waiting list to get into one of these places is 16 years. If you have a serious problem or if you are a woman with children you can be pushed up the list but not much. The public houses are more highly maintained then the private ones. They look a lot like prisons, very dark and gloomy. All facilities are shared; kitchens, laundry, bathrooms, showers etc.We also learnt about their Night Bus. It goes around the city and has an inbuilt barbeque and inside there are computers and game consoles for teenagers to make use of. Its main idea is to get kids off the street at night when they are more vunerable and unsafe. Overall, the experience was good and it was good to find out the background information of the Salvation Army. All the statistics, rates of homeless people and what sorts of things they have to do to survive was very interesting and new information for us all.