Hepatitis C and Women's Health Clinic at Lou's Place

In July, Sydney Local Health District (SLHD) held a Hepatitis C and Women's Health Clinic at Lou's Place. Fifteen women were tested for Hepatitis C, and seven women accessed care from the women's health nurse. The Hepatitis C clinic, supported by SLHD, aims to increase testing among people who face significant barriers to accessing healthcare. Lou's provided a confidential space where a quick, dry blood spot test was administered. The samples were processed off-site, with results delivered by phone or email. The women's health nurse offered cervical screening, contraception advice, pregnancy tests, STI tests, breast exams and health information. Due to the positive response, SLHD will returned for another clinic in early September to offer these essential services to women in need. 

NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards

Lou's Place proudly nominated its team of activity volunteers for the annual NSW Volunteer of the Year awards. Several Lou's volunteers attended the regional ceremony at Paddington RSL on 12 August, including Katharina Arms (jewellery), Tanya Nasti (karaoke) in the Young Volunteer category and Amanda Lawson (creative writing).

Hosted by the Centre for Volunteering, the NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards, is an annual event that recognises the incredible dedication, effort and community service of volunteers across the state. The Centre for Volunteering recognises that volunteering plays a vital role in the well-being of our communities, and in 2023, 4.3 million people gave their time as a volunteers, contributing $178 billion to NSW (2023 State of Volunteering Report).  The sector has faced significant challenges following the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. 

Despite these obstacles, our wonderful volunteers at Lou’s Place continue to lead and participate in activities that are vital to our functioning and essential to our community. These include art, creative writing, sewing, piano, massage, karaoke, jewellery-making, hairdressing, yoga, movement and meditation, games and all-rounders. A huge thank you to our tremendous team!

City of Sydney awards Lou's with a Food Support Grant

Lou's Place is thrilled to be the recipient of a City of Sydney grant as part of their summer round of Food Support Grants. 

An essential part of Lou’s Place’s service to the community is the provision of free, nutritious home-cooked meals served in a safe and welcoming environment.  Our goal in providing these meals is threefold: first, to offer nutritious food that meets the needs of the women; second, to build trust for longer-term engagement; and third, to encourage social interaction. What better way to foster connection than over a meal cooked with love? For many homeless women, these meals are a basic necessity and a vital part of maintaining their welfare. 

Over the past 25 years, more than 145,000 hot lunches have been lovingly prepared by our incredible team of 100+ volunteer chefs. We’ve also distributed takeaway meals and food vouchers, ensuring that no woman leaves Lou's Place feeling hungry!

As more women access our services, we are now aiming to provide over 10,000 meals each year.  This is made possible through the generous support of food rescue services such as Oz Harvest and Too Good Co., who have been donating food to Lou's for the past 10 years. These donations are supplemented with wholesale pantry and meat purchases, funded by the City of Sydney Grant and other philanthropic contributions.  We are deeply grateful for their ongoing support of Lou's Place.

Lou's kitchen volunteers

Lunch at Lou’s

Gingerbread house decorating to raise funds for Lou's Place

Are you looking for an activity to get into the Christmas spirit? We're decorating gingerbread houses the evening of Tuesday, 3 December at Lou's Place. Bring along a family member or a friend for a fun-filled evening which includes light refreshments. All funds raised will go directly to Lou's Place. Please contact Lou's Place to reserve your place.

Email: info@lousplace.com.au

Making gingerbread houses

Lou's Closet 2024

For the past 13 years, the Lou’s Closet sale has been our biggest annual fundraiser. The sale of good-quality, new and second-hand clothing has, to date, raised over $750K to support vulnerable women at Lou's Place. We hope that 2024 will be an even bigger year for us as we move the event to The Tramsheds in Forest Lodge. 

For two and a half days, we are offering a beautiful selection of new and pre-loved women’s clothing and accessories at bargain prices. The Designer Closet will be offering stunning NEW pieces from high-end designer labels including Carla Zampatti, Bianca Spender and Moss and Spy. The clothing rails on the general floor will be full of incredible bargains with jackets, dresses, skirts and shirts starting at just $20. On Saturday, entry is free and everything on the general floor will be reduced to $10. 

Bring your friends along for a fabulous shopping experience while supporting Lou's Place!

Empty Shoes: a Vigil in Martin Place

Amber Lawrence

Jess Hill

Amber Lawrence and Sydney Philharmonia Choir

Lou's Staff (left to right) Alice Di Maggio, Gen Sakr, Shazya Singh

On 28 November last year, Lou’s Place held a vigil in Martin Place as part of the United Nations' 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. The vigil aimed to remember and honour all of the women who had, to date, lost their lives to family and domestic violence in 2023. 

 52 white balloons, each tethered to an empty pair of shoes, floated above the solemn public installation despite the wind and the rain. Each pair of shoes symbolized that, on average, one woman a week is lost to family and domestic violence. As of the date of the vigil in November, the number was tragically already 54. By the end of the year, it had risen to 63. 

The goal of the vigil was to raise awareness by fostering open conversations about domestic and family violence. It sought to humanise the issue, reminding everyone of the real people affected by these horrible statistics. Additionally, the event aimed to generate funds to support Lou’s Place, in its mission to assist women dealing with this crisis.

Lou’s Place is very grateful to our sponsors for the event Allens Linklaters, BGC, The Royal Bank of Canada, Parc Capital, Gresham, Wotton & Kearney, the City of Sydney and the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for helping to make the day such a successful event.

Amanda Greaney, General Manager of Lou’s Place, spoke passionately to the crowd. She conservatively estimated that 80% of women who access Lou’s Place have experienced either domestic violence or sexual assault. Jess Hill, an award-winning journalist and author of See What You Made Me Do, served as the guest speaker for the event. Despite the drizzle, the crowd gathered under their umbrellas as Jess delivered a poignant message: 

“We are confronting an epidemic of coercive control that affects millions of Australians, essentially a process of psychological torture that goes largely unnoticed and at a scale difficult to comprehend. It will take all of us working together to end it.”

CMMA female country artist of the year Amber Lawrence concluded the vigil with a stirring performance of This Is Me accompanied by the Sydney Philharmonia Choir. Together, their performance instilled a sense of hope, illustrating what can be achieved through collective effort. 

Our Programmes at Lou's: Always Mum and Connecting Through Change

Seventeen mothers joined the first term of our Always Mum programme in February. This group of mothers, from diverse backgrounds, both reflects on and work towards individual goals for their children, who are in out-of-home care. They've built strong relationships within the programme, demonstrated by their empathy and kindness towards each other. The team leader at Anglicare’s Preservation and Restoration Service reported, “We have had several mums complete your Always Mum programme. We find it instrumental in their healing and working towards restoration of their children into their care.”

Term 1 of Connecting through Change began both its in-house and outreach programmes in February. The outreach programme is run through WHOS, a local drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation centre that provides a range of evidence-based, therapeutic treatment programmes. Lou's Place offers an onsite programme for women who are unable to leave WHOS to attend our core programme. 

Most enquiries for this term's programme were self-referrals, having heard about Connecting through Change through previous participants. We have received an overwhelmingly positive response from the 10 women who are near completion of the in-house programme. Furthermore, some women have become friends and are making plans to catch up. 

We received such lovely feedback from last term's group: 

• “I absolutely loved coming to this group! It gave me a safe place to discuss all I have learned."

• “My biggest take-away was that I am not alone, and I did not do anything to deserve what happened to me.”

• “I cannot thank you enough for this amazing programme. I have got so much from this amazing group.”

• “Shazya and Alice were fantastic facilitators. They are so kind and caring and obviously love their jobs. Big thumbs up to them both.”

OzHarvest Teaches New Cooking Skills For Better Health

Volunteers of OzHarvest's NEST programme have been teaching Lou’s women new cooking skills for better health. NEST (Nutrition Education Skills Training) is a six-week programme that teaches adults about healthy eating and easy, affordable cooking in a friendly and fun environment. Participants have been learning how to save money on their food budget by planning meals and reducing food waste. They're also learning to better understand food labels and store food safely. 

NEST is aligned with Australian Dietary Guidelines and works with everyone to set realistic goals around healthy eating. OzHarvest is currently running its second programme at Lou's Place with five participants. One woman who has coeliac disease says that she particularly enjoys learning about proper cutting techniques such as bridge cutting and rock chopping. She has also received suggestions for appropriate ingredient substitutions, which have been helpful with her meal planning.

Thank you to the OzHarvest team for offering this programme at Lou's Place.

Meditation and Breathwork Class

Nikki has recently joined our team of volunteers. She leads meditation and breathwork classes at Lou's Place, in which she brings women together to connect with the body. She uses a mix of yoga, Qigong, breathwork, meditation and dance. Nikki says:

"My class is about women healing. Just being together as women is powerful medicine. Breathing. Connecting to the body. I guide women with very simple movement and breath, ancient and intuitive techniques for calm, release and rebalancing. So many struggle with the concept of meditation, but I want to help people to discover its simplicity and the peace available to us all.”

Nikki's classes have been well received. Here's what her participants have to say: 

"It provides me with tools that I can use for various aspects in my life. Everyone should try it.”
“I love it. Nikki makes you feel great. We do a lot of stretches, meditation, and sometimes a bit of dancing.”

We are very grateful to have Nikki offer this vital service to the women at Lou's.

Support from the James N. Kirby Foundation

The James N. Kirby Foundation has been supporting Lou's Place with generous grants for the past 5 years. They are committed to supporting organisations that provide opportunities to those in our community who need it most.  In the past, we have received funding to support our emergency relief programme during the Covid pandemic, our daily cleaning service and recently towards our food budget. Thank you to the board of the James N. Kirby Foundation for your trust and support in the work that we do at Lou's Place.

Creative Writing Class

For just an hour a week, a small group of women come along to write and to share their thoughts with each other. Steaming cups of tea and baked treats in hand, pencils poised, students recently wrote about objects hidden in paper bags.

A nectarine

Firm to the touch, the nectarine isn't ripe yet. I run my hands over the smooth surface, curved like breasts, until I come to the tip. My fingers touch a rough, broken shoot, where it was connected to a tree growing in the sunshine. I can imagine myself lying under that tree and stretching my hands out through the green grass to reach for another fruit that's fallen from a low-lying branch. This one is soft and ripe to the touch. Its flesh has been pricked by birds and eaten by possums, I imagine. My fingertips trace its outline, getting sticky from the exposed flesh. Anonymous

HB pencil

This could be my art class pencil. It is as I remember it from primary school. The rubber in the end is for soaking up mistakes, re-doing shapes and lines, shading to do over again, more perfect or to my liking. We used to chew these tips of rubber, and the boys would throw them at us from across the classroom. Anonymous

Life at Lou’s

The Lou's Team

On 31 May, Lou’s opened its doors to welcome donors, allied services and friends to see its new, larger and more accessible premises in Redfern. The evening was designed to give everyone a glimpse of what life at Lou’s is now like. General Manager Mandy Greaney welcomed everyone to walk around the service and talk with the staff about the therapeutic programmes they lead. These include our drop-in service, our family and domestic violence programme 'Choice and Change,' as well as 'Always Mum,' a programme that helps mothers whose children have been taken into out-of-home care. 

Volunteers were also there to explain the activities they lead, with examples of work that clients had chosen to share. There were paintings and powerful examples of creative writing, as well as pieces from the much-loved sewing and jewellery making groups. Healing happens in many different ways at Lou’s, and the community and social acceptance of our activities play an important role in our holistic approach. By far the most moving part of the night was a short speech by Ting Ting, one of our regular visitors to Lou's Place, who wished to share her story of recovery as a way of thanking everyone who supported the service - and her.

Photographer: Amanda Lawson

Ting Ting's Story of Recovery

My name is Ting Ting. I have been receiving care and support at Lou's Place for a year now. I left a toxic, painful relationship and came to Sydney all alone. I struggled to pay $10 for a load of washing. While studying teaching at Sydney University, a classmate recommended Lou's Place. She said I could get all my washing done for free. It was such a big relief. Guess what? I found out that Lou's Place is a lovely, beautiful place, filled with amazing ladies. While waiting for my washing, I tried lunch here. The food is the best. It's freshly cooked, filled with loved, with all kinds of meat and veggies.

The lawyer, Tara, helped me find justice. She put the man who assaulted me on the train in gaol. She found me a stable place to live, so I can focus on studying and teaching. I joined a yoga class, learning about breathing techniques and practising self-awareness. I had a massage; I was so spoiled! I feel relaxed and alive. I also had my counselling here. I joined art class, creative writing, even a sewing class. I gave it a go, trying to be open-minded. All of these classes are really therapeutic. In art class, I can focus on the moment, only thinking about the beautiful things in life. In creative writing class, I had to practise writing using my five senses. Later on, I couldn't stop. I started writing in my own journal, trying to get closure for myself.

I am healing. I feel safe. I feel I belong here; it's my community. I learnt how to be assertive, how to stand up for myself, how to care for myself with compassion. I can see hope in life again. I guess I am no longer depressed. At the end, I want to express my appreciation to all the ladies at Lou's Place. Thank you for your smiling patience, care and empathy. I am always welcome here. I have never once felt judged. Everyone goes out of their way to provide support and professional services with devotion. That's what I hear from other clients too.

Lou's Place Programmes

In recent months, programmes at Lou's Place have been running at full throttle. From launching outreach groups to creating new content, and gaining increased recognition from local services, the growth and development of our programmes have been an exciting journey for the team.

Always Mum has supported 20 mothers with a collective 72 children through our 10-week programme. Each of these mums displayed an incredible amount of insight, strength, and dedication to building safe, nurturing relationships with their kids. 'Connecting Through Change' continues to grow and has seen 16 incredible women come together each week to explore the complexities and nuances of their individual journeys.

A highlight for our team has been the firsthand feedback that we receive from the women we support through our programmes, such as:

"This group exceeded my expectations; I have gained support through the wonderful facilitators and feel better equipped for future relationships.”

"It's because of this course that I did not go back to my ex. This course has helped keep me safe.”

We are deeply honoured to be part of these women's important life journeys, and to witness the profound connections they forge through the power of group work — built on trust, non-judgment, and collective empowerment.

Connecting Through Change - an outreach programme

In May, Connecting Through Change commenced a 4-week outreach programme in partnership with WHOS. WHOS is a local drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation centre that provides a range of evidence-based therapeutic treatment programmes. They contacted Lou’s Place on behalf of the women in their programme who have expressed interest in participating in Connecting Through Change. As these women are unable to leave the rehabilitation facility to access the group, Lou’s Place bridged this gap by delivering an onsite programme with core content from our 7-week programme. 

Two Lou’s team members provided domestic and family violence education to the women. Twenty-one participants completed the programme, and their feedback was overwhelmingly positive:

“I’m so proud of the two facilitators that came onsite. Well done and I look forward to seeing you at Lou’s when I am discharged."

“Now I know that I’m worth it."

“I am deserving of safety and respect."

“Violence is not ok."

The WHOS team reported that the women always left the group feeling positive, uplifted and empowered. Furthermore, they have recommended the programme to other women at WHOS. Lou's has been invited back to facilitate a second outreach group, commencing 25 September. We hope to make this an ongoing service. 

2023 NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards

Jennie Forsyth, Sarah Nelson, Nuria Zamora, Maryanne Galea, Jan Davies

We are very proud to announce that our Cooking Team at Lou’s Place was nominated for recognition in the 2023 NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards.  Regional award ceremonies were held across Sydney and included representatives of Lou’s Place in the City of Sydney/ Eastern Suburbs division, the Northshore division and the Northern Beaches area.  Long held as the part of the soul of Lou’s, our nutritious and delicious lunches are integral to the well-being of all the women who visit Lou’s Place. It has been a very well-deserved spotlight on the work that our culinary volunteers do.

Our lunch service is not an easy task. Over the last year, lunch has expanded to 40-50 serves per day. We have added an extra helper to make it three in the kitchen rather than two whenever possible. As deliveries to the kitchen are not received every day, our volunteers are often called to do the “Master Chef Mystery Pantry challenge” to create the meal.  That said, we are spoilt, as amazing salads, chicken dishes, roast vegetables and more are always on offer for our women.

Approximately 60% of our food is donated by OzHarvest, with the rest supplemented by online Coles deliveries. Extra meal supplies continue to come from TwoGood and our friends at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia. There is always a frozen or extra meal in the fridge for women who arrive at Lou's outside lunchtime and need to eat. 

Additionally, we are hugely grateful to our friends and partners who routinely deliver fresh bread, fruit and other treats for our women to take home with them.

Our food service is a life saver and our volunteers well deserving of this special recognition.

Photographer: Amanda Lawson

New Volunteer Positions at Lou's Place

Photographer: Amanda Lawson

We are thrilled to have several new volunteer positions at Lou's:

The All Rounder overs our busiest period of the day, from 9 am to 1 pm. A volunteer greets women who drop into Lou's, as well as helping them access showers, emergency toiletries and clothing. It is great to have another pair of hands to manage donations and/or general house issues. It has been a huge success and we are excited to roster more volunteers into this vital position.

Meditation and Breathwork now runs weekly and has become very popular. We are very grateful to be able to offer this calming and centring service to our women.

Finally, we have a hairdresser again. Visiting once a month, this service has been met with much enthusiasm. It is amazing how a 'freshen up' can lift the spirits. It has also gotten a few of us off the hook from requests to cut hair...

Thanks, as always, to our amazing team of volunteers.

Lou's Place has solar panels!

Photo: supplied

Lou's Place was grateful to receive a Community Building Partnership grant from the Department of Community and Justice, which  enabled us to install solar panels on the roof of our Renwick Street building. Our electricity consumption is considerable, due to the commercial grade washing machines, dryers, fridges and freezers that are running throughout the day at Lou's. With the use of the solar panels, we look forward to reducing our electricity bills and cutting down on our environmental footprint.

Lou's Closet Sale 2023

Lou's Closet Volunteers

Our 2023 Closet sale was held in May, once again at the beautiful Manly Golf Club, resulting in another extraordinary year of selling both brand-new and second-hand designer wear. This year’s sale raised over $112K.

The generosity of our wonderful clothing donors, plus brand-new donations from Carla Zampatti, Bianca Spender, Camilla and Moss & Spy enabled us to create a “Designer Emporium” which, once again, proved to be a huge success.

Curating the closet sale each year requires an enormous amount of work. We are very grateful for our incredible team of volunteers. They not only give their time, but they also really enjoy being there. It is wonderful to see the joy radiating through the room. The buzz, the banter and the friendship make all that hard work worthwhile.

We are already in planning mode for 2024.  If you have been cleaning out your wardrobes in preparation for summer and would like to donate to next year’s closet, please give us a call. We are more than happy to come and collect your brand-new and/or second-hand designer clothing. From all the closet team organisers, a huge and hearty thank you; we look forward to seeing you all again next year! 

Contact: Eugenie Karangis M: 0414 473 740 E: Eugenie@lousplace.com.au

Eugenie Karangis & Jenny Pridham

Photographer: Amanda Lawson

Increasing numbers at Lou's Place

They always say, "be careful what you wish for."  At Lou’s Place we wished to help more women, and we are certainly reflecting that wish! For the first time in our 24-year history, we need to roster women in some of our busier classes. Participants in sewing and jewellery are having to take scheduled turns. Our lunch service is regularly now at 40+, not the 20+ that it was in Potts Point. Our house is buzzing and although on days of the full moon it can be a bit zany, Lou’s Place has been able to retain its safe, homey feel.

A recent analysis from Homelessness Australia has found financial difficulties and housing affordability stress skyrocketed in 2022, driving a surge in demand for homelessness support, with NSW, WA, TAS and SA worst affected. Furthermore, 2021 census data reveals that while incomes have grown 5% over the last two years, rents have increased by 28%. The latest census reports a 5% increase in overall homelessness; 56 % of those experiencing homelessness are women and children.

Our bigger premises at Redfern and our community outreach means that we now have the capacity to welcome more women. For the first time last year, Lou's provided meals for more than 100 women during the Christmas period, from 27 to 30 December. This is historically a lonely and stressful time for many of our women. January 2023 also saw a record 708 visits.  Our resourceful kitchen volunteers have certainly noticed that it's been busier of late. The volunteers - and during busy times - the staff too - "chop and chat" together to produce such delicious and nutritious meals. One volunteer says, "Not a service goes by without a woman commenting on how much they appreciate having a hot meal. For many, this may be the only substantial food they have that day." Another kitchen volunteer remembers a woman saying, "all the food served at Lou’s was cooked with love." For her, "That is what volunteering at Lou’s is all about." Sharing a home-cooked meal at the long kitchen table at Lou's provides not only nourishment, but much needed social connection and an opportunity for women to tell their stories. A heartfelt thank you to all our kitchen volunteers.