Williamstown’s Robert Adams was once a street kid so he knows what it’s like to go hungry.
The founder of the Helping Hand Cafe at Williamstown Church of Christ is a finalist in the Father Bob Maguire Foundation’s Angels of the Street awards.
Mr Adams, 60, said people helped him out when he was living on the streets from about age 14.
“I was in the same boat [as the people I help now] – on the streets and living in cars,” he said.
“I was hitchhiking to Ballarat – just hitchhiking anywhere – and the police pulled me up and asked me where I was going … I told them I had nowhere to go.
“They took me to a boys’ home in Ballarat and I ended up staying there for six or seven years.”
For the past nine years, the Helping Hand Cafe has provided free lunch every Tuesday for people who are disadvantaged, living on the streets, pensioners on their own or anyone who can’t afford a decent meal.
“At first I started it as a soup kitchen and then I decided to do meals,” Mr Adams said.
“I’ve been doing that since and also giving them bread and vegies … to take home.
“Mothers will come with their babies, from the Nelson Heights flats, up to people in their 80s. I’ve got a couple of guys who sleep on the street.
“There’s a lot of disadvantage that we don’t see in Williamstown.”
Mr Adams runs the cafe without government funding, though Williamstown MP Wade Noonan helps out.
“He does a soccer match with a school and the money he raises from that comes to Helping Hand Cafe,” Mr Adams said. “I don’t get money from the government or anything like that to keep it running.
“I got tongue cancer in 2007 so sometimes it’s a bit hard for me to talk but Helping Hand Cafe is keeping me going.”
Humbled by the nomination, Mr Adams said he didn’t volunteer for recognition.
“I do it because I care about people,” he said. “It’s not to be recognised or nothing like that. There’s a lot of other people that deserve it.”
Father Bob created the awards to recognise people whose good work often goes unnoticed.
He said: “These ‘angels’ are selfless in what they do and about the people they do it for. They make a difference in a very real sense.”
The winners will be announced on Sunday at St Kilda Town Hall.
