A solar-powered purple van drops by Beenleigh and Eagleby each week staffed with volunteers helping women connect with services to help change their lives.
The van is run by for-purpose organisation and registered charity 4 Voices to provide free frontline services to vulnerable women.
The charity’s founder Jo Westh set up 4 Voices in 2019 prompted by her experience working in both Cambodia and Australia.
She said she had previously worked for a couple months each year for several years with women and children, and while it felt successful, it didn’t feel like she was doing all that she could.
“I was volunteering in a couple different orphanages and I saw a lot of stuff on the streets that I found quite confronting,” Ms Westh said.
After seeing so much hardship, she wanted to enable girls and women to find the strength to change their circumstances.
“If you’re fleeing violence, what you need it safety,” Ms Westh said.
“It’s really looking at the individual as an individual and trying to find out what she might need immediately to make her life that much easier,” Ms Westh said.
She said 4 Voices believed connection was fundamental to healing, so volunteers offer safe spaces through their purple vans, which are equipped with digital support to help women feel less alone.
“[The goal is to] provide some support, whether that’s being an emotional support network or through practical support.
“So, helping them look for housing or helping them with sourcing food.”
Each week the vans travel through various parts of Logan, stopping at Beenleigh and Eagleby every Wednesday and Thursday at specific times.
“Our vans are outfitted with Wi-Fi and phones and laptops and printers, and coffee and tea facilities.”
The organisation is aiming to see a world where each woman is safe, heard and connected through providing practical support for women and girls in crisis.
“We’re an organisation that is trying to raise awareness for domestic violence and about homelessness and about the need for more humanity in the treatment of people going through these crises,” Ms Westh said.
4 Voices uses its social media accounts and website to spread its message and raise awareness for these issues. It also has volunteers who aim to work around three hours a week.
“We have 600 volunteers at the moment, we could use 6000,” Ms Westh said.
Anyone is interested in lending a hand through volunteering or donations, can do so through 4 Voices social media accounts or the 4 Voices website.
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