HELPING Our Homies are a shining light in our community as the rising cost of living and increasing homelessness means additional support is needed across Ipswich.
Co-founders Dallas Conventry-Scott and Kelly Dixon met through work and became good friends through volunteering and a shared dream to help the homeless.
In 2024, the organisation celebrates one year of service to the Ipswich community, and along with their three volunteers Tania, Ray and Ally, they run street feeds fortnightly for those in need.
“We began this organisation as we were volunteering with another group beforehand and it wasn’t the right fit for us, so we chose to branch out and form our own group as the need is there,” Mr Conventry-Scott said.
“We formed an interest helping the homeless and less fortunate, as Kelly and I both have friends and family who have suffered from homelessness and with mental health issues and we’ve both always had a passion for helping those in our community.
“The need is very high, we not only help those living on the street but also those struggling with the housing crisis, so we help quite a large amount of people in the city.”
Helping our Homies supports the city and runs fortnightly meals at Queens Park, with 30 or more people frequently attending, on every second Thursday.
“People reach out to us via our Facebook page or our personal contact details if they are in need of support or know of someone who is in need of support,” Mr Conventry-Scott said.
“At our fortnightly street feed, a large amount of people in need will reach out to us there.”
Both co-founders work full time in other jobs but are working towards making this their fulltime gigs and opening the doors to helping more of the city’s most in need.
“We provide many services within our organisation to those in need and we love what we do,” Mr Conventry-Scott said.
“We are available 24/7 to anyone who’s in need, we are also not government funded and fully volunteer based so all our resources come from the time and money that Kelly and I put into the group ourselves, along with the great support from our donators.
“We would love to build partnerships with other community organisations to better our resources for the community.”
