A place once associated with confinement and separation has begun a very different chapter, with the official opening of the new Lazarus Community Centre at the former Geelong Gaol site. 

Geelong Community Foundation was pleased to join the Lazarus team, volunteers, donors, supporters and members of the broader Geelong community to celebrate the opening of the newly redeveloped centre and an important milestone for one of our grant partners. 

The opening follows more than four years of planning and redevelopment, transforming a part of the former Geelong Gaol site into a purpose-built space designed to respond to growing community need. Lazarus itself describes the project as having taken four-and-a-half years to bring to completion.  

Where the site was once associated with separation from community, its new purpose is centred on bringing people together and providing practical support, dignity and connection. 

Responding to growing need 

Lazarus provides a welcoming, non-judgmental drop-in centre for people experiencing homelessness, hardship and social isolation, providing meals, practical assistance and a safe place to connect. 

The new centre comes at a time when demand for homelessness and emergency support across our region remains significant. Geelong Community Foundation’s latest Vital Signs data shows 5,161 people accessed homelessness services in the past year, including 1,853 people experiencing homelessness and 2,882 at risk of homelessness. 

Lazarus has experienced increasing demand firsthand, with more people seeking support as housing insecurity and cost-of-living pressures compound other challenges including poor mental health, family violence and social isolation. Recent local reporting has similarly documented rising demand at the centre, including from people struggling to afford food for their families.  

The new centre gives Lazarus greater capacity to respond. 

More space, more possibilities 

For years, Lazarus delivered its work from the old Governor’s House in a space that was generous in spirit but increasingly limited in function, including just one toilet and one shower available for guests. 

The new centre provides expanded bathroom, shower and laundry facilities, improved accessibility, a proper kitchen, welcoming communal areas, an outdoor garden and additional spaces that enable other services and partnerships to operate from the site. The redevelopment of the former Gaol space included new male, female and accessible bathroom facilities as part of the extensive works.  

The additional space also creates greater opportunity for existing partnerships, including with Thread Together, with a dedicated clothing area where guests can access new clothing and try on items in privacy. Lazarus has an established relationship with Thread Together to provide new clothing to its guests.  

There are plans to bring further health and wellbeing supports into the centre, including doctors, counselling and podiatry, helping move towards a more connected model where people can access practical assistance, healthcare, advocacy and support in one location. 

The significance of these improvements is perhaps best understood through the everyday things they make possible. A meal can prevent someone from going hungry. A shower and clean clothes can help someone attend an appointment or job interview. A conversation can interrupt loneliness. A timely referral can help prevent a difficult situation from becoming a crisis. 

Built by community, for community 

The opening itself reflected the extraordinary community effort behind the new centre. 

On Monday evening, the space was filled with people from across Geelong who have supported Lazarus and its work, including donors, volunteers, community and business leaders, project contributors and long-time supporters. 

Lazarus Chair Steph Davie and Centre Manager Michael Kenneady have both played pivotal roles in bringing the redevelopment to life, supported by the Lazarus Board, staff, volunteers and wider community. 

Steph’s message on the evening was overwhelmingly one of gratitude, acknowledging the many individuals and businesses who contributed funding, expertise, materials, time and generosity to the project. Lazarus has similarly credited its donors, trades, volunteers, staff and Board for making the new centre possible.  

It was a fitting celebration of a project built on collective effort — and of an organisation whose work is itself grounded in community. 

Most importantly, the people who use Lazarus remain at the heart of its purpose. The new centre provides greater opportunity for people to access practical support without judgement and to be treated with dignity and respect. 

Supporting the work of Lazarus 

Geelong Community Foundation is proud to support the work of Lazarus through a three-year, $90,000 grant within our Food & Emergency Support priority area. GCF’s published grant records confirm the three-year commitment of $30,000 per year for homelessness assistance.  

The funding supports the day-to-day operation of the centre, including food relief, material aid, laundry and shower facilities, referrals and social support for people experiencing hardship. 

It means that as Lazarus steps into this significantly expanded new home, our community’s generosity is helping support the practical work that happens within it each day. 

There is something particularly meaningful about that work taking place on this historic Geelong site. Where people were once separated from community, the doors are now open to welcome people in. 

We congratulate Steph, Michael and the entire Lazarus community on this significant milestone and look forward to seeing what this new space makes possible for people across Geelong.