By Casey Neill
Cornerstone Contact Centre is looking for “a heart to care”.
Over the past two years, the Dandenong support service lost its long-time co-ordinator Don Cameron to cancer, its Mason Street home of 25 years and a string of other staff members.
It’s now in the Dandenong Church of Christ on David Street and has welcomed Lexie Keller Sheard as its chaplain and stand-in co-ordinator.
Cornerstone’s board chairman Andre Van Eymeren said he was looking for a permanent home but there was no rush.
“The highest priority is finding the right person to take us forward,” he said.
“I think it’s someone that’s compassionate about those that are struggling, but also has the ability to project forward and have some vision for where Cornerstone could go in the future.
“Someone with fundraising abilities would be great.
“I think the biggest thing is that they’ve got a heart to care.”
Cornerstone provides a drop-in space and serves lunch on Wednesdays and Fridays to about 60 people.
A community health nurse from Monash Health visits every Wednesday and the Australian College of Optometry sends someone in once a month.
Ms Keller Sheard, 35, lives in Noble Park and discovered Cornerstone while studying in Dandenong.
“There’s a home and a welcoming space for our most vulnerable members of our community,” she said.
She was looking for a way to get involved when Cornerstone called out for a chaplain.
“When I joined we were a team of three,” she said.
“Our team has gotten smaller but it means I’ve had a chance to get more involved.
“That’s one of the best things about Cornerstone.
“There is really a sense of family.
“Even though I’m the only staff at the moment it doesn’t feel like I’m alone, thank God.
“I think that’s become even more prominent since we lost or permanent location.
“The thing that has stayed permanent is the sense of community and the sense of home.”
Ms Keller Sheard studied gender studies in California and “that opened my eyes to inequality and injustice”.
“When I was living in LA I noticed the high homeless population,” she said.
There was a ‘no loitering’ sign in the park near her home.
She’d take her homework and sit in the park for hours without attracting attention, but watched police round up homeless people.
“Things weren’t fair. People aren’t being treated equally,” she said.
Ms Keller Sheard moved to Bangkok, Thailand, for seven years where she worked in slums for a Christian organisation.
“I got to know more about how people who are doing it tough really, really struggle,” she said.
There she met the Australian man who’d become her husband, and they moved to Australia three years ago.
“I’m a Christian but living for so many years among very poor people in a Buddhist country, I had a lot of theological questions I wanted to explore,” she said.
“I wanted to get more skills, particularly in the area of pastoral care and counselling.”
That led her to study theology and pastoral care at the College of Divinity.
“I was interested in getting involved again in something that would hopefully both incorporate my faith and advocacy for people who are struggling,” she said.
“Cornerstone is a perfect fit.”
