For some it’s somewhere warm to hang out for a few hours, for others it’s seeing friendly faces, and for everyone it’s a delicious, warm dinner.
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The Drop-In Centre is an initiative the City Baptist Church in Launceston has been running for more than a decade.
Kay Hunter started in the centre as a volunteer when it first opened and now she coordinates the program.
Held weekly on a Saturday night, the doors of the hall adjacent to the church open and some of the city’s most disadvantaged people are welcomed inside.
From about 6.30pm people start to gather in the lounge area, they’re offered a warm drink as the television plays in the background.
There’s plenty of opportunity to have a chat or spend some quiet time out of the elements before the dinner service begins at 7pm in the hall.
“One of the things I really like about it is there is a community developing,” Ms Hunter said.
“There are people who come who see this as a safe place and they come and they want to help, they want to part of what we’re doing and they’re looking out for each other.”
About 15 to 25 people come for dinner each week, but numbers fluctuate wildly and attendance often varies during the change in seasons.
“We get more people in winter than we do in summer. I think people are cold and hungry,” Ms Kay said.
“If you can get out of the weather for a couple of hours, have a hot meal and some pleasant conversation and just relax and know you’re safe, that is pretty huge in some of their lives.”
The program initially started as a way of helping people who were sleeping rough in Prince’s Square and around the church grounds.
People were given a place to stay for the night and a warm meal, but Ms Kay said demand had changed over the years so they stopped the overnight stays.
Ms Kay said sometimes lonely people pop in for a meal.
“They’re people who are lonely who just don’t have anywhere else where they can eat with somebody and have conversation,” she said.
The centre has about 28 volunteers on a rotating roster, with a team leader and three team members needed for a dinner service to go ahead.
“We have amazing generous people, some from this church and some from other churches,” Ms Hunter said.
Some of the behind-the-scenes volunteers also include a number of older women who prepare hot meals each week for however many people turn up.
For more information about volunteering with the Drop-In Centre, call Ms Hunter on 6331 4900.
