Community Leader of the Year sends up a Signal Flare

In 2015, CCI presented on behalf of the Community Leader Awards, the 'Community Leader of the Year' award to Grant Richards, aka 'Grant the polite guy', for his tireless work with Brisbane's homeless. Now, Richards has launched a formal charity, Signal Flare, through which he and his team of volunteers are continuing this vital work. We checked in with Richards to find out what the award has meant to him, what Signal Flare is all about, and how people can get involved.

 

Winning the 'Community Leader of the Year' accolade has meant a lot to Richards, both personally and in his ongoing efforts to help the homeless. "The award itself means the world to me, because it means that a lot of the community are aware of the great work I do, but it also shows that an average person can achieve so much," says Richards.

As yet, the award has not translated into funding. "Unfortunately, we haven't received any financial support," says Richards, "but what we did get was Winston [Cheng, food production managing director] from Ivory Kitchen, who is now donating hundreds of boxes of chicken curry to give to the homeless on a weekly basis."

Expanding efforts

Indeed, with a great deal of support from Cheng and Blind Eye Ministries, another Catholic community, Richards' charity, Signal Flare, is now also operating a brand-new soup kitchen, which opened on 13 May, 2016. The kitchen serves food out of Blind Eye's hall at 19 Merivale Street in South Brisbane. "We're going to be giving out free food, clothes, and toiletries to the homeless four days a week," says Richards. He hopes to expand that to seven days a week as the kitchen becomes more established, but he and his team are trialling the four-day plan to see whether they can meet the demand.

Meanwhile, Signal Flare has a lot of other projects in the works, too. The charity is also ramping up its efforts at hosting barbecues for the homeless. "We were doing our barbecues every eight weeks," says Richards, "but because I've won this award and we're getting a little bit more support, we're going to start doing an event every four weeks. And each event helps 400 to 1000 homeless."

Plus, Richards and Signal Flare are still helping people on a one-on-one basis. "We find the ones that want to get on their feet – and want to get a job," says Richards. "Then we get them into accommodation; deck out their unit; get them clothes, a haircut, and counselling; and get them a job – all within seven days." Unfortunately, because no one gets paid (and paying for accommodation comes out of their own pockets), they can help someone only about once every fortnight. "We can't do it as often as we'd like because we just don't have the funding," he says.

Enterprising projects

With this in mind, the organisation is looking to launch a number of microbusinesses. "We just started a lawnmowing business, so we're waiting to see if we can get customers for that," says Richards. "Obviously, the more customers we can get, the more people we're able to help."

Signal Flare also has ambitions to open a warehouse thrift shop, where all the clothes and blankets for the homeless are free seven days a week. What Signal Flare would love to receive, says Richards, is some form of sponsorship. "With a little bit of sponsorship or funding, we could achieve so much more," he says. If you're interested in learning more about Richards and Signal Flare, or in becoming a sponsor, visit the Signal Flare website - www.signalflarehub.org.au