Salvos Appeal Targets $23m
Sun Herald
Saturday May 20, 1989
THIRTEEN years ago, Bob Seymour was just one of the blokes at a bar whom Salvation Army officers would greet while going around with cheer and that familiar box.
Now, Captain Bob Seymour, front-line soldier among homeless kids in Kings Cross, does the rounds each Friday night.
Next Sunday, Australians will have the chance to chip in when the Salvation Army conducts its annual Red Shield Appeal Doorknock to top off Salvation Army Week.
"Your heart to God and your hand to Man," is how Capt Seymour, director of the Outreach Service at the Cross, sums up the Salvos' philosophy. And for his crew of six field staff, it seems to be getting results in at least one aspect of their work.
"The homeless-youth housing project really is doing the job", enthused the jovial captain over one of the many services which "offer help for every problem between the cradle and the grave".
This year, youth homelessness and unemployment is the focus of the Red Shield Appeal, which aims to raise $23 million nationally, $7 million in NSW, and $5 million in Sydney - most of it from business. In the past, the target was always reached.
The Outreach Centre's two houses, in Bondi and Paddington, give long-term accommodation for five teenagers who must be "clean" of drugs and alcohol, with staff providing skills guidance.
Captain Seymour estimates that over the past three or four years, half-a-dozen of these youths have gone on to secure jobs and independent lifestyles, and many have shown much improvement.
Another house at Lilyfield will open soon. "We could fill 20 places in a week," said Captain Seymour, lamenting the shortage of long-term accommodation for the thousands of homeless youth in Australia, most of whom are the product of broken families or sexual and physical abuse.
These are the ones "shaken loose" who end up at the Cross and whom the Outreach team tries to get back out as soon as possible.
"What they see as normal to us is incredible," said Capt Seymour. "I think poverty and immorality can lead one to the other," he added, in relation to the characteristics which seem to typify the upbringing of many hard-core street kids.
In reference to the title of last week's gripping ABC documentary on the issue, Nobody's Children, he said: "That's so pathetic, but so true."
Just the same, he often encounters grief-stricken parents of young drug addicts and prostitutes, searching for their children or for understanding of their early death.
In relation to Salvation Army operations as a whole, and the risk of fostering a handout mentality for some beneficiaries, Capt Seymour said: "It's a fine line and every now and then, you fall one way or the other. But it is better to err on the side of generosity."
© 1989 Sun Herald
