Award for hero of the homeless

by Kim O'Connor

Source: Wentworth Courier, Wednesday December 3, 2003

Jeff Gambin, the man who feeds hundreds of Sydney's homeless every night, has been named Local Hero for metropolitan NSW in the 2004 Australian of the Year awards.

The Rose Bay local was applauded by the Governor, Marie Bashir, at a Government House function last week also attended by the State's selection for Australian of the Year, cricketer Steve Waugh.

"I find the 'hero' honour very humbling. It's a huge tag and a huge responsibility," Mr Gambin said. "On July 24 we clocked up 10 years of helping the homeless and someone estimated we had made 1.4 million meals."

From running a restaurant to dedicating his life and savings to the Just Enough Faith (JEF) registered charity, Mr Gambin's career change has benefited thousands of people who are often the most disadvantaged in society. There is no doubt he has saved lives, but as he says: "Don't forget they have saved my life, too."

He describes JEF as he largest non-religious, non-political and non-funded organisation of its kind.

"We don't get corporate sponsorship and we don't get money from governments, but we have in the last 10 years managed to take 1100 people off the streets and find them homes, got jobs for 850 people and helped 130 kids go back to school," he said.

Mr Gambin's voice is filled with pride when he talks about one of his former street friends who is now at university doing a PhD in nuclear science, and another young man whose parents threw him out of home.

"He rang me the other day to ask if I would be in the church to see him get married," Mr Gambin said. "He said I'm the person who is a father to him."

Every day, Mr Gambin and his team cook enough food to make 450 meals a night. "That is about 380 kilos of food every day. We load it into the van and take it to Woolloomooloo, where we feed everyone," he said.

"Last week when it was pouring with rain, one fellow said to me, 'The sun may not come up tomorrow, but we know you'll be here'.

"We've never missed a single day. How could we? Now we do a menu with a minimum of nine dishes

"The people like a choice and some of the cheeky ones say no to the chicken cacciatore because they had chicken korma the night before and feel like lamb or vegetarian!"

Apart from the hot meal, the van provides a centre for social interaction.

"The food helps us break the ice so I can find out if they need help with other problems," Mr Gambin said.

When the Gambins first started their amazing program of feeding the homeless, they did the cooking in their own kitchen.

Now, thanks to help from the Premier, Bob Carr, and his office, they are housed in an old building in Callan Park, Rozelle.

"Mr Carr was instrumental in my getting these premises," he said.

"We have spent about $400,000 of our funds to put in a commercial kitchen and classrooms, but it's worth it."

The education centre is used to teach courses such as hospitality, hotel management, horticulture and basic information technology.

"We also help people find employment and housing, and offer counselling to break addictions," Mr Gambin said.

"There's no point feeding the stomach if we are not feeding the brain as well - if we were not educating people with qualifications for employment we might as well be throwing chips to seagulls."

When pushed, Mr Gambin admits times are tight financially.

Without a corporate sponsor, they rely on private donations and their rapidly shrinking personal assets and investments.

"Sure, it's tough, but while I've still got breath in my body, I'll be there," Mr Gambin said.

"You know, some people are pushed to count the number of friends on the fingers of their hands.

"Even if I was a millipede, I'd still run out of space for the friends I have."

Donations to JEF are tax deductible.

Contact www.justenoughfaith.org or phone 9818 8988.

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