Rosalie House is a temporary, up to 2 year, home for single mature women in crisis, operated by the “Vinnies”. In 2015 and 2016 the “Darlings” undertook to, internally, fully repaint the 6 bedrooms, hallway, living room, kitchen, office laundry and bathroom.

The majority of the rooms are 3.6m high and 4 of the bedrooms are some 30 square metres, so special ladders and platforms were required. All residents were involved in the colour selections and specified their particular preference for the feature wall in their bedroom.

160 litres of paint (120 donated by Dulux) have improved the appearance and ambiance for the residents and new equipment and flooring were procured for the kitchen. Externally, much of the garden was replanted, being achieved with the guidance of one of the residents who is training in horticulture and who continues the upkeep with the assistance of her classmates. It should be noted that her counsellors have commented that this process has been a remarkable stimulus to her confidence

The “Darlings” contributed many hours to this project, assisted by friends and members of the City of Sydney Rotaract Club. In addition and, in fact of high importance, were the valuable contributions from the Dexus and CBRE companies, which each released 25 personnel for a day from their volunteering programmes to assist in the project.

In addition to the time spent in the planning process, over 800 volunteer working hours were spent on site over 3 weekends, 29-31 August 2015; 25-27 September 2015 and 12-13 March 2016.  The kitchen was finished on 20 June 2016.

Volunteer hours were contributed by

Members –                  350

Friends  –                     123

Rotaract –                      38

CBRE and Dexus Staff 302

In financial terms the hours worked have been valued at over $21000, requiring a variety of skills including project planning, tradesmen, catering and horticulture as well as the labourers.

Funding was achieved through donations, discounts and a grant of $7,200 from the NSW State Government through its Community Building Partnerships program. The Member for Balmain, Jamie Parker, was particularly instrumental in guiding us through that process. The “Darlings” contributed some 10% of the total cost.

The “Darlings” and the St. Vincent de Paul Society thank the organisations which have supported us in the Renovation.

  • NSW State Government
  • Dulux Australia
  • Mitre 10 Canada Bay – Kingsford Timber Group
  • Kennards Hire
  • Dexus Property Group
  • CBRE Australia
  • Flower Power
  • Appliances-on-line
  • Carpet Call – Alexandria