When we set out on this financial year, like most people around the country and indeed the world, I would never have anticipated a global pandemic and all the volatility, uncertainty and opportunities that came with it.
I am extremely proud of the entire Good Sammy Enterprises team for how we have come through this year and used the opportunity to grow our impact and shape our future even more purposefully and creatively. Thanks to the hard work and willingness of everyone to reinvent and adapt, I do believe we have emerged better and wiser and more committed to our Purpose than ever with new roles and new development opportunities for our clients across a range of contemporary areas.
Our Purpose- to help people with disability build skills and progress to meaningful employment opportunities and pathways remains central to everything we do and is the filter against which we make all our decisions. Our social enterprises – retail, recycling and our online store continue to provide invaluable opportunities to build skills and provide meaningful employment. We look forward to continue to grow more of these enterprises in line with the goals, needs and preferences of young people with disability. Our goal will always be to use the opportunities within these enterprises to build skills and confidence in our clients to help them progress to the job of their ‘dreams’ in open employment with us or with other employers.
Two outstanding examples of this is how our newly launched online store and internal coffee shop has provided opportunities for our team to use and develop their digital, photography, Barista and customer service skills. We have also focussed on building creative skills in our teams by upcycling textiles and clothing into bags and other items which we are selling online.
As we look forward to the next financial year, our intention is to grow these new ‘ seeds’ into bigger and better opportunities for building skills and confidence in a structured way in more varied and contemporary vocational areas. We are also excited about the opportunity of our Containers for Change sites to build new skills in our teams and a platform for even further growth and impact. The ultimate goal being to transition as many of the team to open employment as possible.
As we transition to the NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Standards in December and contribute wherever possible to the Disability Royal Commission, the responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of our people remains at the forefront of our minds as does the need for sector reform to drive better outcomes and greater economic participation and meaning through work for people with disability. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the sector and the relevant policymakers to shape the sector to produce better outcomes and long term employment and participation outcomes for people with disability.
In closing, I would sincerely like to thank those organisations and individuals without which we wouldn’t have managed quite so well. In the first instance, the ever present guidance of the Uniting Church leadership in WA and nationally has been invaluable to me. Our involvement with the national Uniting Care network proved the whole is greater than the parts. Other thanks go to Lotterywest for their very generous grant support, the federal government (through JobKeeper and COVID related grants), the WA State government (in particular the Minister for Environment and Disability, The Honourable Minister Dawson) , our Patron, the Governor of Western Australia and to organisations who have donated time and resources, such as Shalom House (Peter Lyndon-James) and many others. To our volunteers, customers and donors across our network, thank you – you are the lifeblood of our retail network and you make an enormous difference in helping us achieve our Purpose.
To my team who had most only just joined before we were plunged into COVID-19 – thank you. Your unfailing hard work, commitment and vision has made all the difference. To the Board for volunteering your time above and beyond the norm, your wisdom, guidance and support has been invaluable.
Thank you.
