STEVE Portas can remember when he was a boy the family’s evening meal would sometimes be interrupted by a phone call, and his father would disappear for an hour or two.
“I once recall Dad taking a phone call as we sat down to eat our meal at the family home in Mansfield,” Steve said.
“Dad quietly disappeared for an hour or two, and we thought nothing of it; because we were kids and also because it was such a regular occurrence … so it seemed normal.
“And it was … except for the fact that on this occasion it was Christmas Day and the call had come from the local priest, who had a distressed family on his doorstep, in need of immediate support.”
For Steve’s father, answering the call was part of his commitment to being a faithful member of the St Vincent de Paul Society, and Steve recalled the experience to help those nominating his father for a Queen’s Birthday honour.
It was no surprise to those submitting the nomination that Graham Portas was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2013 honours list.
To Graham, “it is mildly embarrassing, really”.
He received the award “for service to the community of Holland Park-Mount Gravatt”, in Brisbane – service given mainly as a Vinnies member.
Graham, 70, has been a member for more than 45 years and, like many Vincentians, prefers not to trumpet his deeds.
When he received the letter from the Governor General’s office asking him if he would accept the honour, and requiring him to keep the matter a secret, he just wanted to ignore it.
“For a day or so I just wanted it (the letter) to go away,” he said.
“I felt I was unworthy, and still do.
“I’ve met a lot of good people who’ve done a lot more than me.
“All I’ve done is a little, for a long time.”
Doing “a little” every week for more than 45 years amounts to a commitment worth honouring.
“I wonder how many local families have benefitted from his support over the past 45 years,” Steve wrote.
“It would have to be 5000 families, meaning 15,000 to 20,000 local community members.”
When Graham joined the society in 1964 he did not know what he was letting himself in for.
“It was something someone asked me to do after Mass one Sunday when I was a young man – about 22 years old,” he said.
“I was still living at home with my parents at Norman Park.”
He didn’t think much about accepting the invitation but “there was no reason to say no”.
“Generally it’s my nature that if I’m asked to do something, and I’m able to do it, then I’ll do it,” he said.
“I had heard of Vinnies at high school – at St Laurence’s (South Brisbane). I knew of (Vinnies’) existence and that they helped the poor but (knew) little more than that.”
When Graham did find out more about the group he was joining, the idea made him a little nervous.
“I was a little scared at the first few meetings when I heard we had to go and visit people in their homes – people twice my age,” he said.
“It was a little daunting.”
But that has become easier with time and plenty of practice.
Graham, who served as secretary of the society’s Holland Park/Mt Gravatt conference for many years, said the number of visits conference members made to the poor each week had increased.
“In 1968 we might have had two or three cases a week on average,” he said.
“And we had time to do clothing drives some weekends.
“We’d put the kids in the car, and throw out plastic bags (to be filled with clothing), and we’d come back a week or two later (to collect the filled bags), which mainly ended up in our (Vinnies) shops.
“We might have done three or four of them a year.
“For a while we’d also visit (patients in) a ward at the Princess Alexandra Hospital on a Sunday morning.”
The members don’t have the luxury of time for those extras today.
“I checked the other day, and in our last quarter up to June 30, statistically we’re doing two cases a day for a seven-day week.
“Some days we might get none, and others we might get nine or 10.”
Graham said almost all people seeking assistance from his conference would be receiving welfare benefits.
In his early experience most people visited would have been two-parent families, and it was a time when unemployment was low.
“Now most of our clients are either single people or single-parent families,” he said.
“Over the past decade particularly, we’re coming across more people with (mental illness), and people without the life skills they should have.”
The age of members is another challenge facing Vinnies.
“When I joined as a 22-year-old I was the youngest member (of the conference),” he said.
“Even then, the other members were probably twice my age.
“I’ve always been a young member of the society and still am, sadly.”
The society’s Queensland vice-president Robert Leach, in a recent Vinnies View column in The Catholic Leader, reported the average age of members in Queensland was 73.
Having retired 10 years ago, Graham has more time to visit the poor these days and is often accompanied by his wife, Glenda.
They also have more time to spend with their four children and nine grandchildren.
Graham, happy and contented, doesn’t need his Queen’s Birthday honour to know he is a man who can count his blessings.
Apart from the love of his wife and family, he said his lifetime of work with Vinnies had been most rewarding, “when life’s been so good to me”.
“I’ve never had to worry about where my next meal’s going to come from, or where I’m going to sleep,” he said.
“It often amazes me, the people in desperate situations who don’t have a worry in the world. Then you get others in the same situation who are absolutely distraught.
“It makes you feel pretty fortunate yourself.
“I’m often reminded the margin between me and them (the people seeking help) can be very short – when something’s tipped them over the edge.
“There but the grace of God …”
Graham said there were often times when he examined the details of a person’s situation before a visit and thought the problems were overwhelming.
“And you think what’s going to happen here,” he said.
“Then when you visit those people they are often less concerned than I would be.”
It can be a case of them being accustomed to hardship.
“Here am I still in the same house we’ve had for 44 years, (and) often a client may have lived in several houses in the last year,” Graham said.
For him, Vinnies is a way to put his faith into practice.
“It’s part of my life,” he said.
“It’s never taken over but it will always be part of my life, as long as my health holds up.”
