Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Grandmother Robyn right at home with friends on streets

byMark Bowling
1 January 2022
Reading Time: 6 mins read
AA
Robyn Hunt

Tireless campaigner: Robyn Hunt is a Rosies stalwart and parishioner at Stella Maris Church, Broadbeach. Photo: Mark Bowling

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

WHAT draws a person to Rosies – Friends on the Street?  

It was watching this incredible charity grow from a group of young people assisting Schoolies to a statewide organisation providing connection and community to the vulnerable that inspired Surfers Paradise parishioner Robyn Hunt to join Rosies in 2004.  

 “Each year one of the Oblate priests would hold commissioning ceremonies for the Rosies volunteers at Sacred Heart Church and they would ask for volunteers – I was interested in joining but I had four children at school and I couldn’t make the commitment just yet,” the 73-year-old grandmother said.  

“When the priest asked me again in 2004, I was ready to commit myself to the service of others.” 

When Ms Hunt speaks of commitment, she really means it. Rather than trying to “fit Rosies into her schedule”, she works around her fortnightly volunteer roster.  

“I put Rosies in my diary and that way if someone invites me to do something I say no, sorry I have got something else on – it’s important to show up for your team and for our patrons who rely on our service.” 

Robyn Hunt knows that volunteering can have unexpected highlights. Like in the lead up to the 2018 Commonwealth Games when she carried the Queen’s baton on one of the final stretches into the Gold Coast.

“I carried the torch for the 1200 volunteers who work for Rosies,” Ms Hunt told The Catholic Leader at that time.

Meeting the need: Rosies reaches out to those most in need – who are lonely, abandoned, and marginalised within our communities.

Rosies has a long history on the Gold Coast, albeit not always an easy one. The grassroots organisation has had to shift outreach location many times as Surfers Paradise has grown and changed over the years.  

“We started right on the beach front near the Surfers Paradise sign offering just a biscuit and a cuppa, then they started doing up the esplanade and we got moved on a bit further to a Laws and Hamilton Park and then finally when the Comm Games came around, we needed to move again,” she said.  

Related Stories

Millions of Australians living in poverty

5-year-old preppie Peyton gets a sneak peak at his new school

Room at the inn for all this Christmas at Emmanuel City Mission

“I approached Fr Peter at St Vincent’s and so we returned to the place where the branch started.”  

While the change in location meant Rosies was less visible to the general public, it provided a haven for patrons who wanted to avoid the drugs and alcohol that the beachfront tended to attract.  

Of the location, Ms Hunt said: “It is a different atmosphere, and our patrons love it; they seem to be more respectful because we are on the church grounds.”  

Regardless of the location and the number of times the outreach has had to move, Ms Hunt continues to volunteer year after year. 

This month, she celebrates her 18th anniversary.  Meanwhile, her connection to gospel and the mission of Rosies grows ever stronger. 


“While I may not have always understood why, from a very early age I was driven by the words of the Gospel of Matthew 25:34-40. When Jesus said, ‘I was hungry and you fed me, lonely and you comforted me, in prison and you visited me’ and I ask, ‘When did I see you hungry, lonely, in prison?’ He will say to me ‘Whatever you did for someone in need – you did to me’.  


For Ms Hunt these words embrace her work with Rosies.

Robyn Hunt in the Queen's baton relay
Dedicated: Robyn Hunt carries the Queen’s baton along Marine Parade, Biggera Waters, on the Gold Coast. Photo: Supplied.

“Volunteering allows me to pass on the good news of Jesus to others by simply being with them and showing them I care for them, just as He does – I don’t need to talk about my faith – people will know who I am by what I do not what I say,” she said.  


Ms Hunt puts her faith and mission into action each fortnight when she attends outreach at St Vincent’s Church car park in Surfers Paradise.  

Rosies team: Robyn Hunt (front second from left), with other members of Rosies – Friends on the Street.

“Volunteering is important to me because I need to be there for people – need to be a presence for them – need them as much as they need me – because I am sure at times that I get more out of volunteering than what I give,” she said.  

“I love being with our patrons – it’s important for them to see a familiar face for them to have a sense of knowing you, knowing they are at home with you, knowing that you come out because you care about them, and also knowing that you are a friend that they can rely on to be there for them in times when they really need you – be it for whatever, a quick hug, a smile, a chat, a blanket or toiletries.” 


Sometimes it can be hard for volunteers like Ms Hunt to leave what they’ve heard on outreach, often keeping the patrons’ stories close to their heart.  

“When I go home after an outreach I keep running over the night’s conversations in my head – worrying about how this one is coping given their particular circumstances on that night or how that one is navigating their particular issue,” she said. 

“I was raised to be compassionate and have always been concerned for those in need, those who are lonely, vulnerable and at risk or subject to discrimination – I was always told to be on the lookout for anyone in need.” 

Even though Ms Hunt may sometimes lose sleep over the wellbeing of Rosies patrons, she wouldn’t have it any other way.  

Volunteering with Rosies has allowed her to put her faith into action and share hope with people in vulnerable situations, something that during the holidays can be seriously lacking.  


Christmas is a difficult and challenging time for many people doing it tough on the street.  

Confusion around restrictions and border closures adds to the holiday season stress.

Rosies—Friends on the Street will operate throughout the Christmas season, including public holidays, conducting its normal outreach schedule so that anyone who is experiencing social isolation or homelessness will have a place to go, to feel at home and be with others.  

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Pam Betts hands over the reins at Brisbane Catholic Education after 42 years teaching and leading

Next Post

Former orphan Brendan Scarce counts his blessings in new book

Mark Bowling

Mark is the joint winner of the Australian Variety Club 2000 Heart Award for his radio news reporting in East Timor, and has also won a Walkley award, Australia’s most-respected journalism award. Mark is the author of ‘Running Amok’ that chronicles his time as a foreign correspondent juggling news deadlines and the demands of being a husband and father. Mark is married with four children.

Related Posts

Queenslanders forced into darkness
News

Millions of Australians living in poverty

15 March 2022
Learning fun: Teacher Maddi Ward with prep student Peyton Eslick in one of the new classrooms at Star of the Sea School, Merrimac.
Education

5-year-old preppie Peyton gets a sneak peak at his new school

12 February 2022
Room at the inn for all this Christmas at Emmanuel City Mission
News

Room at the inn for all this Christmas at Emmanuel City Mission

24 December 2021
Next Post
Former orphan Brendan Scarce counts his blessings in new book

Former orphan Brendan Scarce counts his blessings in new book

Vatican lists 22 Catholic missionaries killed in 2021

Vatican lists 22 Catholic missionaries killed in 2021

Testing woes: Shortages in the supply of rapid antigen tests is causing chaos for people needing a quick test result. Photo: CNS

Social services workers and vulnerable people need ready access to rapid antigen tests, Vinnies says

Popular News

  • Performer: Liza is a trained gymnast and contortionist and has enjoyed performing at St Eugene College.

    Young Ukrainian performer settles into new life in Brisbane school

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Abdallah family deliver powerful Vatican speech

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Federal and state parliamentarians encourage pro-life Queenslanders at March for Life rally

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Christianity still top, but numbers decline amidst a secular shift

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Confraternity Carnival ready for a full return in Mackay next week

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Braving the cold: Caloundra Unity College Principal Daniel McShea ,Our Lady of the Rosary College Principal Dr Michael Stewart and Caloundra priest Fr Joshua Whitehead.

Fr Josh braves ‘freezing’ June night to raise awareness for homelessness at Vinnies Sleepout

by Hannah Kennelly
30 June 2022
0

WHEN asked if this year’s CEO Vinnies Sleepout was easier than the last, Caloundra priest Fr Joshua...

Catholics need better understanding of the Mass, Pope says in follow-up letter to Traditionis Custodes

Catholics need better understanding of the Mass, Pope says in follow-up letter to Traditionis Custodes

30 June 2022
Performer: Liza is a trained gymnast and contortionist and has enjoyed performing at St Eugene College.

Young Ukrainian performer settles into new life in Brisbane school

29 June 2022
Secret baptisms show how Christians still persecuted worldwide

Secret baptisms show how Christians still persecuted worldwide

29 June 2022
Tragedy: Debra Ponce, left, and Angelita Olvera of San Antonio mourn near the scene where dozens of immigrants were found dead inside a trailer truck a day earlier on June 28. Photo: CNS

Pope Francis asks for prayers after 50 migrants found dead in Texas trailer truck

29 June 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping