Spreading the Message of Upper Hunter Homeless
A conversation amongst Bengalla’s maintenance crew around homelessness became so insightful that they decided the situation needed more than just talk.
Bengalla’s maintenance capital and projects specialist Ben King was thrilled on Friday to present Upper Hunter Homeless Support with a $4000 cheque in partnership with Hitachi. At the same time Bengalla unveiled a newly decaled Hitachi EH5000 truck proudly displaying the Upper Hunter Homeless Support logo.
This comes on the back of a collection of essential items amongst the Bengalla staff during July and August.
“We put a call out to our workforce to donate new or good condition second hand items such as blankets, jackets, towels, boots and sleeping bags and were overwhelmed with the response,” Ben said.
“The thing that astonished me the most is we delivered three large carloads of donations and when we came back the second time with another two loads a month later, all the items from the first donation had been handed out,” he said.
“I think there might have only been one pair of boots left which goes to show how much these donations were needed and valued.”
Upper Hunter Homeless Support general manager Mary Spora took the opportunity to personally thank Bengalla on site of Friday and to speak about the service.
“I want to thank Bengalla for everything you do for our organisation, something like this just keeps our name out in the community,” Mary said.
“Homeless happens everywhere you would be surprised who gets themselves in trouble. While we work with people living on the streets, and this is really important work for us, we also work with
people who are in trouble with their tenancy or their housing.
“The best thing people can do if they are in this situation is to come to us early, people who have received an eviction notice or admit they are behind in their rent have a much better chance of staying in their home then when they come to us saying that a sheriff is coming in three days’ time.”
Bengalla donated $2000 to the organisation and Hitachi, the supplier of the mine’s EH5000 trucks, matched the donation with Aaron Chenery saying it was a local cause Hitachi was more than happy to support.