Award Presentation and Up-date

Roger Williams will talk on Mary's House and Julie Stewart on Delvena

​Roger Williams

* In my professional life I was a commercial lawyer in a large publicly listed Australian company (CSR) until I retired in 2007.

* Since then I have completed a Master’s degree in History at Sydney University.

* I also served on the governing Council of one of the Syd Uni colleges and its Donors’ Foundation, I retired from that last year.

* In 2007 I commenced working as a volunteer at the Matthew Talbot Hostel for homeless men at Woolloomoolloo, where I still work in their outreach programme.

* In 2015 I was the co-chair of the Parish Council of Our Lady of the Way Catholic Parish, North Sydney, when we decided to explore the possibility of opening a refuge for women & children escaping domestic violence.

* We quickly realised that this project required funding and personnel resources way beyond the capacity of our Parish.

* So, what became Mary’s House, was transformed into a community-wide project, including all faiths and none and much wider community support, including Rotary,Mater Hospital and other business and community groups too numerous to recount.

* The result is that Mary’s House opened its doors on 1st November 2016. I was Chair of the Board of the not-for-profit company which operates Mary’s House until mid-2017. I remain an active Board director.

* As you know, I have previously spoken at one of your lunches. I will update your members further on Monday.