Our Results

Every weekend we provide around 300 people with assistance varying from something as simple as a cup of water and a chat, to calling an ambulance for a client and waiting with them until the paramedics arrive. Our aim is to help people in the night club precinct stay safe. We provide band aids for small cuts and blistered feet. We recharge phones. We help those who have become separated from their friends to link up with them again. We walk people to taxis, call a family member or sober friend to get them home safely. We give directions and we walk people to local accommodation. We listen when people are angry or upset. We comfort those who are grieving deaths and broken relationships. We find people passed out and vulnerable in dark corners and bring them to safety.

A cup of water and a chat …

A young man was given a cup of water at the Rest and Recovery van.  Our team noticed that he wasn’t looking too well, gave him a vomit bag and walked with him a little way, chatting and checking that he was okay.  Later on Facebook he posted a message “Thanks so much so your awesome team. You saved me last night when I was close to passing out. You helped me when I really needed it and when I was dehydrated. Just want to say thanks for your great work.”

Without judgement…

If only we’d had been quick enough to record on video what a young American tourist said when he saw the ‘Jesus loves you’ bottles of water.  His first comment was slightly disparaging.  “Oh you’re Christians.  Back home you’d be saying that we’re bad to get drunk, and you’d be telling us off.”    But after some time observing our non-judgemental care he went on “You’re actually doing something to help.  You’re the best of what it means to be a Christian.  In fact if Jesus was here he’d be doing stuff like this!”  His comments beautifully summed up what Cairns Street Chaplains are about.

Showing kindness and compassion …

We normally don’t do it, but on this occasion we gave money to a young woman so she could get a taxi home.  Here’s part of her response to us on our Facebook page.

 “Hi, I would like to thank your street chaplains for helping me get home safely this evening.  I found myself with no phone, no money and abandoned by my planned lift home around 1am.  Noticing that I was upset and alone, the taxi marshall paged a couple of street chaplains for help.  They sat and listened to my predicament and then offered to pay for my taxi home… I am absolutely overwhelmed by the kindness and compassion shown by your chaplains… Words can not express how thankful and humbled I am by your generosity, and how you turned what would have been an awful night (walking 1 hour+ home alone) into a safe one…”

Like family…

We were returning a trolley (that some young people had been pushing each other in) to Woolworths when we found a beautiful young woman sitting in her own vomit. She had lost her friends and had no wallet or phone on her. We washed the vomit off her, found out where she was staying and we walked her to her hotel. She was so grateful, and at one stage stopped and said that she missed her family, but in that moment felt like we were family to her. We realised that this is why we do what we do – to protect those vulnerable ones like her as though they are our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters.

Working together to provide a Safe Night Precinct…

We found a group of young women on a hen’s night that went horribly wrong. While we were consoling one woman who had been assaulted and had a chipped tooth and a grazed knee, another woman in the group vomited and then without warning passed out from a drug overdose, hit her head really hard on the concrete and was completely unconscious. No sooner had we gone to her aid, than a police van came around the corner, stopped and called QAS for us. We were so grateful, and could see that the timing was perfect. We had prayed for calmness and peace at the start of the evening, and we were calm but assertive with crowd control. We worked together seamlessly until the paramedics arrived. What was so great was that the police thanked us genuinely and kindly for our work and we thanked them in return for their assistance. It really was great team work!

Life savers…

A young man who we had helped came back to say thanks. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” he began.  “You guys literally saved my life.” He is not alone.  Many grateful men and women come back to say thank you to us when we show them love, pat their back as they vomit, clean them up a bit, or, as in this young man’s case, call an ambulance for hospital care.