Everyday Kindness, Extraordinary Impact
A Uniting WA article by Erik and Kate, first published in the August 2025 edition of Revive magazine.
We recently caught up with Kate, who has been a dedicated volunteer at Uniting WA’s Tranby Engagement Hub (Tranby) for the past four years, to hear what inspired her to get involved and what a typical day looks like supporting people experiencing homelessness.
“When I was at work many years ago, I used to teach at Saint Stephen’s School. Our motto there was ‘Serve God, serve one another’, so I had a lot to do with helping other people in the community. When I retired, I decided that I would like to volunteer somewhere, and Tranby came up.
When you come in as a volunteer, there’s other volunteers working with you, which is lovely. And the first people who come through the door for support are what we call ‘rough sleepers’; they are the people who had no home at all last night and were sleeping on the street.
When they come in, we’re able to give them a towel for them to have a shower at Tranby’s shower and bathroom facilities. We give them some toiletries if we have them.
A lot of people ask for socks and underwear and, if they’ve been donated, we can give those out and anybody who comes can have breakfast. These are things that make those people feel safe and looked after and seen. We know that they’ve had a really hard night and it’s nice for them to be able to sit down and get some support.
There’s been more and more people attend Tranby than ever before, and they are coming from all different experiences.
I think there’s lots of little things that can make you smile. It’s very nice to say good morning to everybody who arrives. I don’t have the skills that the Tranby support workers have to be able to put people in houses and direct them to services, but I can certainly smile at them and say good morning and hope that someone speaking to them has helped to make their day.”
Tranby Engagement Hub is based at Uniting WA’s Inner City Hub on Aberdeen Street in Perth, just steps from McIver train station. Tranby is open every single day of the year and Uniting WA are always looking for compassionate, community – minded people to join our volunteer team.
If you’re ready to make a real difference in the lives of those doing it tough, we would love to hear from you. Reach out to Erik and Silvia at [email protected] to find out how you can get involved.
