centres
O
ur Centres have had a great year, both with people and with ‘profits’. However, any ‘profit’ produced by our Centres is not really ‘profit’ because it goes towards Vinnies’ efforts to help people in need. The management model for Darwin, Palmerston and Katherine, with Rose Smith overseeing the team and the Centres, is working really well. Darwin Centre had some great theme days throughout this year and a very successful June sale. It’s been great to have the conferences helping out at the Assistance Office. The Palmerston Centre is booming. The tremendous team has brought in more customers and it too had an outstanding June sale. The Katherine Centre is going from strength to strength with great volunteer support, a substantial sales increase, and a mighty May Open Day. The Centre in Alice Springs is going well with more volunteers and improving stock quality. Tennant Creek’s Centre has continued its strong and reliable role in a very important Territory community. The Darwin Warehouse has continued its integral and valued role as a central hub in our supply chain. Without good stock and good sorting, this year’s result would not be as good as it is. Erica, Di and Janet in the Coconut Grove office also play a critical administration and finance role in the sound management of our Centres. The particular strength of this year has been that the Centres are beginning to operate more as a network, so that the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts. This strength through a stronger team approach has enabled much more reaching out, for example, to assist the new initiative at Santa Teresa and to provide support in East Timor and the Tiwi Islands. The separate reports from each of the Centres, and the Darwin Warehouse, provide more detail. Once again, I extend my heartfelt thanks to our Chief Executive Officer, Janet, our Operations Manager, Rose, and to all supervisors, staff and volunteers.
Marj Morrissey Vice-President, Centres
St Vincent de Paul Society (NT) Inc. Annual Report 07/08 17