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Mercy Foundation Celebrating 30 Years at the Service of Human Dignity
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'Thanks to our supporters, we provide brand new towels, sheets, quilts, kitchen ware and other essential household items. Home in a Box makes an enormous difference to helping people lay down roots and re-start their lives.'
Date: 24 September 2020
From: Mercy Foundation
Celebrating 30 years at the service of human dignity
On 24 September 2020, the Mercy Foundation celebrates 30 years at the service of human dignity.
For thirty years, the Mercy Foundation has helped communities across Australia respond to people in need. Following the closure of the Mater public hospital in 1990, the Sisters of Mercy North Sydney established the Mercy Foundation ensuring that the Congregation could continue their mission to alleviate poverty and address disadvantage, restoring dignity to people’s lives.
The Sisters of Mercy North Sydney opened the Mater Hospital in 1906. It was a public hospital that was renowned for caring for all in the community, especially those in poverty. In the 1980’s, the State government withdrew funding of the Mater as a public hospital so that a new hospital could be opened in Sydney’s growing west. The Sisters were determined to continue to their mission to combat poverty and in 1990, the Mater was reborn as a private hospital and the Mercy Foundation was established. This innovation has enabled the transformation of the lives of thousands of people facing disadvantage across Australia
The Foundation continues to be committed to social justice and structural change that brings about greater social equity and inclusion in our world in 2020. At the heart of all projects and activities that the Foundation is involved in is the service of human dignity.
Since 2008 the Mercy Foundation has focused on ending people’s homelessness using evidence-based practices. According to Sue Mowbray, CEO of the Mercy Foundation, “When the Foundation turned its attention to homelessness, not many people in our community were working to solve it. Our approach has been to end people’s homelessness, so that people aren’t left trying to survive on the streets, relying on food vans or charity to get by in life. An affordable home and access to the right support will end people’s homelessness, restore dignity and help them get on with their lives.”
In 2014, the Mercy Foundation turned its attention to the issue of older women and homelessness. “Older women are now the fastest growing group in the community to experience homelessness. This is an injustice that must be addressed. It’s shameful that the women who built our communities are now facing homelessness at a vulnerable point of their lives.”...
Messages to: Sue Mowbray - CEO Mercy Foundation