For a long time I’ve been concerned about care services getting bound up by bureaucracy; when the person in need becomes secondary to the smooth functioning of welfare delivery. This was born out by an experience I had the other day.
The phone rang with a desperate plea for help. The man at the other end needed assistance in lots of complex ways. He needed help to stay off the streets. He needed help getting food and he needed help with Centrelink. Not to mention psychological and medical support. It’s exactly the sort of thing my Rev. Bill Crews Foundation specialises in, but the man on the phone was in another state.
Finding help wasn’t easy
Surely there’d be organisations just like mine who could help this person? Alas, that was not the case. Many agencies told me: “We only deal with one type of assistance not the multiple needs of this man”. They tried to sweeten things by saying they could refer him on to other agencies for other types of help, but I knew that wasn’t good enough.
In my experience people in desperate need shouldn’t be sent from place to place to get help, they need wrap-around support. When they get it their lives are transformed. That’s why my Foundation doesn’t just give meals to those in need, we offer counselling and a plethora of support services. It’s a proven pathway back to the straight and narrow.
As I searched desperately for an organisation to provide this sort of care, I realised how loving compassion had been railroaded by bureaucratic welfare delivery.
Caring has become a welfare profession
Over the years welfare has become a job, rather than a calling. Indeed, agencies now compete for government funding. They have key performance indicators and accountants who decide how much and what sort of care can be given to each individual. It’s the monetisation of caring.
What it fails to appreciate is that well-functioning human beings are more than the sum of their individual parts. Indeed, when a person is damaged, fixing one thing in isolation doesn’t work. Loving compassion, not to mention logic, demands we address the needs of each individual as a whole.
However, there is not much room for loving compassion when care services and welfare delivery have become a monetised profession.
As for that desperate man on the phone; thanks to some help I was able to get him to Sydney so my Foundation could give him the real care he needed.
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Bill, it is a sad state of affairs that welfare for another human is not available when it is needed the most. The government needs to regulate its funding more stringently and give only and more to genuine agencies such as yours. Thank you for your kindness to others in need.
Love your work Bill, all that you are saying is true and the worst of the worst example is the care handed out by NDIS operatives. So GOOD ON YOU!!
One thing to watch is the freeloader who exists by ‘using’ the people like you. The blighters are everywhere!!
Congratulations on the wonderful help you give to people in need .
I’ve worked with The Rev. Bill Crews Foundation over many years with various companies and I have so much respect for all that Rev Bill and his crew do. You all make the world a better place. Thank you for all that you do. So much respect.
I chose to donate to your organization (though it is 700 k away) because you have not divided the people you help into ‘freeloaders’ and the ‘deserving poor’ as so many do. Please continue to help everyone who needs you.
Hi Bill,
Thanks for sharing this important story. As you know from experience it takes decades to become an established helping/caring agency such as yours. And it takes a person like you: compassionate, dedicated, can see what needs to be done so gets stuck in and does it, attracts like-minded people who walk alongside you in your journey. You have become a household name so people support you/your work. The question is how do we clone you, multiply you to service the growing needs of people with so many complex needs? We need more of you everywhere and we need it now. Who else is offering what you offer? Are there people in your organisation who can expand your network, start others in different locations? If I was not in my mid 70s I would be offering myself, sadly I’ve left it too late.
Julia you have hit the nail on the head. The question is how do we clone Bill? Is one answer to farm for some people who have been helped by Bill or his equivalents in other places and have the talent?
Couldn’t agree more.
Well done 👏👏👏 to all of you in this great foundation.
In NSW We are lucky to have Rev.bill crews
With the monetisation of care you have companies that see the sick as a profit line. Wilson Parking makes a very healthy profit out of parking fees at hospital. Patients who are in hospital for a long time return a healthy profit for Wilson whenever their families visit them.
Robodebt has shocked everyone but is just the worst side of KPI driven bureaucracy
We all need caring efficient human providers and your foundation is a great example
All that you say is true. It applies to aged care also where the homes not run by charities are run by “for profit” companies which is concerned for the bottom line instead of looking after their residents.
Ideally Centerlink should be the go to organisation for people needing assistance in this country, but it is but a bureaucracy. Heaven help those people who need their help, as they do not even answer their phones. Charities have emerged as an indication of the failure of the Aus government to provide assistance to those in our communities who are in need.
HON REV BILLYou are THE BEST
As you know I was in WHOLESALE FOOD and deliverd 6 Pallets to your foundation recently BBD
I KNOW there more FOOD inFREEZERS that is close to BEST BEFORE DATE which can be extended .Where USE BY DATE CANNOT
If you send me a letter to this effectI will look for more stock
God be with you Tom Colless OAM
The community of NSW can never adequately repay Bill for all he has done to help others in need.
It’s very hard to be optimistic and tenacious when we feel like everything in life is so difficult. When “the top end of town” aren’t getting the processes right, who do we turn to? Truly Bill, you are a gift from God! I’m wondering, is there some sort of course your volunteers can undertake ( through TAFE for example) that will enable some of us to do more, working under your banner? I am looking for a course to study where I actually will make a difference…in the right place!
Well said Bill . You do a fabulous job at helping people and giving them back their dignity . There should be more organisations like yours who really care about peoples needs
Well said and done Bill..the Humane factor and Care elements, amongst others, in their truest meaning, sense and form have gone missing and your self assessment of the situation/s is certainly to be highly commended, and those powers that be that have deviated from the straight and narrow to preserve their monetized statuses of profits combined with unsavoury tactics and excuses etc. with less regard for those less fortunate and in desperate trying circumstances need a good kick up the proverbial….Period.