Our ‘Pay it Forward’ Program

In 2018, we received funding from Community Sector Banking which we used to create a program called Connecting the Hunter. Our intention with this program, was to provide opportunities for people in the community to be active participants in responding to homelessness in the Newcastle and Hunter region.

Essentially an extension of our successful annual Hunter Homeless Connect Day event, the program enabled us to connect vulnerable people with support and community services, all year round, outside of our event with funds received via our donation tap point devices installed in local cafes.

These funds were used to purchase haircut and food vouchers, which were distributed to specialist homelessness services across the region, who then passed these vouchers onto people seeking support from these services.

We were able to engage a contractor, Nissa Phillips, in 2020, to facilitate the program, which we expected would run for approximately 12 months. We managed to extend the life of this program for a further four years, thanks to additional funding received by The Sisters of Mercy, Port Waratah Coal Services, the Centre for Hope, the City of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie City Council.

In addition to the distribution of over $48,000.00 worth of food and haircut vouchers, we also distributed over 30,000 hard copies of our community service directories to homelessness services, neighbourhood centres, refuges, businesses, correctional facilities, libraries, hospitals, educational institutions and many other types of organisations during this period. Our directory has also become the highest downloaded resource nationally, across all of the My Community Directory websites in Australia. 

The impact of the pandemic and the economic crisis has significantly affected our ability to secure funding, so we made the decision to cease the Connecting the Hunter program in its original form, from 30 June 2024. We are extremely proud of what we have achieved, as a small, volunteer run organisation over the past five years with this program and we are grateful for the support that came from all quarters of the community. We would especially like to thank Nissa Phillips for her professionalism and dedication to our mission and her passion for connecting vulnerable communities with support, through coordination of the program.

Our donation tap point devices remain in cafes which continue to provide funding for Hunter Homeless Connect Day as well as the ongoing management and distribution of our Community Directory.

How Can You Help?

Cafes 

If you own a cafe and would like to host one of our donation tap point devices, please email us at info@hunterhomelessconnect.org.au 

Individuals

Just want to donate? Head to one of these local cafes –  Talulah’s at the Junction, Cafe Pippi or Momo’s Cafe in Hunter Street or Q & Co in Lake Macquarie and donate via our tap point devices when you grab your next coffee, or check out the the donate page on our website here and help us to connect people in need, with essential services and support.