Bookings have closed to attend the lunch. Zoom registrations are still open.

Sydney Rotary Club’s lunchtime guest speaker on Tuesday 16 February will be Suzanne Hopman, the co-founder and CEO of Dignity, a charity providing emergency shelter, food, clothing, advocacy and education to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Suzanne will discuss gaps in service provision, the growing categories in homelessness, and why government policy is not agile enough to effectively tackle the crisis.

With more than 20 years experience working in the social services sector, Suzanne helped establish Dignity five years ago with proceeds from the sale of her house.

The charity operates 25 houses, spread throughout New South Wales in both city and rural areas. On any given night Dignity could have up to 220 guests, who would otherwise have no safe place to sleep.

Dignity also has volunteers who cook weekly with food provided by OzHarvest, who last year cooked over 100,000 meals for people housed by the charity. Suzanne’s efforts helped Dignity to be recognised as the winner of the 2019 Telstra NSW Social Change Maker Award.

Sydney Rotarian Professor Shirley Randell has been an Ambassador for Dignity since 2017 and is a strong advocate for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

This will be a hybrid meeting.