The Winsome and Lismore Soup Kitchen has been helping and serving our homeless for 32 years. Thirteen years ago this October, the Lismore Soup Kitchen bought the Winsome Hotel itself because there was no accommodation for homeless people in Lismore at the time and The Winsome has 18 rooms upstairs.

The daily operation of The Winsome was cooking and serving up to 100 meals a day and providing accommodation through a great team of volunteers.

Most of that stopped on February 28, 2022, it was a dark day for the Winsome but not as dark as it could have been as Lismore Soup Kitchen President Mieke Bell explains.

"We were very, very lucky and I like to use the term blessed, water went over the ceiling, that's why we had to get rid of it and you can see the floor of our first floor bedrooms and water didn't get in there. It just stopped short. So, we didn't to pull out soggy carpet or soggy beds like some of he other hotels."

(Now the ceiling was taken down, you can see the floor of the upstairs bedrooms showing how close the water got to the first floor)

The photo below shows the balcony that was used to triage rescued people before they were taken to dry land.

The residents at The Winsome were taken to their own evacuation centre then moved back in two weeks after the first flood.

The Winsome is run purely by volunteers, Mieke said there are some long term volunteers into their second decade.

"It's wonderfull to see a number of volunteers are into their second decade of volunteering because they just love it and our organisation gets great satisfaction. They're all dedicated to our people, we don't call them clients, we refer to them as our people of patrons. After this flood we have no idea where the people are."

"If we go to The Quad where people are serving food, we'll meet some of our patrons there but a lot of them are displaced. They've gone to Grafton, they've gone to Casino, they've gone as far as Brisbane, in hotels or where Service NSW put them."

Mieke said she was very grateful for places like Trees Not Boms and the Koori Mail who have been and are still feeding her people while they complete the ground floor, kitchen and doctors rooms rebuild.

(Looking into the kitchen area that needs quite a bit of repair like the walls and floor plus new fridges. The stainless steel benches survived)

It may not be widely known but The Winsome has two doctors rooms and a reception area where they see ten to twelve people a day. The doctors come from Alstonville Clinic.

"People just come on the day to see the doctor and whoever is here will get to see a doctor," Mieke said, "We love our doctors because they are committed to our people."

Like many businesses in the CBD, South and North Lismore The Winsome has gone back to the industrial brick look. They are using villawood instead of gyprock so that when the next flood hits they can hose out and get on with helping the disadvantaged homeless in our city.

How long before The Winsome is fully operational? "I'm hoping six to eight weeks but it may be a bit slower," Mieke answered.

The Winsome operates through donations. They have aplied for some small grants, however, donations is what keeps the building and the services keep running. If you are in a position to make a donation, click here.