What is Lindara
The origins of Lindara were instigated in 1987, the “International Year of Shelter for the Homeless”. A number of parishioners of the five congregations within the Lindfield Killara Parish decided to do something to address the plight of people living in the Ku-ring-gai municipality (and adjacent), who were having difficulty in finding adequate housing. The initial program ran independently, with assistance from a number of Uniting agencies – principally Wesley Dalmar – and included engagement of a welfare worker to offer counselling, support and appropriate care for families in crisis. In 2004, Wesley Dalmar, withdrew from the arrangements.
In October 2005, and endorsed beforehand by the supporting congregations, Lindara entered into a cooperation agreement with the Catholic Church agency, CatholicCare Broken Bay. The arrangement between the parties is known descriptively as the Lindara Family Program.
The objective of the not-for-profit Lindara charitable institution is on families in crisis and homelessness within the Ku-ring-gai and Hornsby municipalities.
Under the longstanding arrangement with CatholicCare Broken Bay, Lindara funds a dedicated family support worker within the staff of CatholicCare’s Waitara Family Centre. The arrangement capitalises on the strengths of CatholicCare in the region and provides linkages into other services available through CatholicCare. The engaged full-time family support worker’s responsibilities and activities provide for benevolent relief to the homeless and families in need or crisis. Furthermore, the family support worker’s principal focus is to intervene at the earliest point where a family, parent or child is distressed by either external (e.g. eviction) or internal crises (e.g. domestic violence), so as to avert the possibility of homelessness or the incapacity to care for and nurture the children of the family group. The end objective is to facilitate positive lifestyle changes for the families in need or crisis, with long-term benefits for family cohesion and sustainability. Additionally, the arrangement with CatholicCare Broken Bay brings an ecumenical sense to Lindara’s community work.
Working with homelessness is intensive, and expensive. Applying a numerical sense to Lindara’s foregoing cooperation agreement with CatholicCare, since 2005 the dedicated Lindara Family Support Worker has cared for around 1200 families, involving almost 2,000 children. In monetary terms, the outlay totals some $1.45m, suitably covered by Lindara’s fund raising activities – see How Lindara is Funded herein.
The numerical approach however does not give the true to life value of “What is Lindara”. Lindara’s late Chairperson summed it up succinctly:
“As individuals we cannot personally resolve the homeless and domestic violence problems, but in providing funding to the people at CatholicCare, like our dedicated Family Support Worker, who do understand how to rebuild the lives of the homeless, we can make a difference”.
Today, the Lindara Family Program is widely recognised within the community for its underlying homeless and families in crisis cause, and its good reputation. On 10th February 2021, the Hon. Jonathon O’Dea MP, Member for Davidson and Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly, delivered a Community Recognition Statement in Parliament regarding the Lindara Family Program and Lindara Markets.
Click here for the “The History of the Lindara Family Program”.
Visit the dedicated Lindara Family Program webpage at CatholicCare, or scan the QR code below:
