Stewart House: Neighbours in Telstra battle try to save charity
Neighbours fighting Stewart House over a proposal to install a mobile phone station on its grounds are momentarily putting their objections aside to help save the charity from financial ruin.
Manly
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A northern beaches charity that has looked after disadvantaged children at its beachside school for 90 years is at risk of closing due to financial woes.
Incredibly the people trying to save it are the very same ones that are involved in a wrangle with the charity over its plans to install a Telstra phone base station on its roof – just metres from their homes.
Kylie Gill, mum-of-two, said she is vehemently opposed to the base station at Stewart House due to health fears for her children and the children who stay at the school.
Telstra says all the evidence and research suggests there are no health risks.
Ms Gill said in the process of fighting the proposal she and her neighbours had learnt about the extraordinary work being done at Stewart House – and also its financial plight.
“For years we have all lived next door to Stewart House and not fully understood what it was,” she said.
“The positive takeaway from all this is that we now understand the great work they do with the kids which is why we are trying to help them, while also continuing to fight against them on the Telstra issue.”
However, she said the neighbours were also hoping Stewart House will make the right choice when it comes to its final decision on the Telstra’s proposal.
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Murray O’Connell, chief operating officer at Stewart House, said allowing Telstra to install a base station on the site will give them guaranteed funding for a period of time.
Mr O’Connell has previously refused to say how much Telstra is offering to allow the station to be built on the school site.
“We would get that money coming through at a time when things are going the other way,” he said.
The Curl Curl based charity takes in 1700 children a year for 12-day stays, where they receive health checks and get to experience a different way of living for a short period.
“We do change lives,” Mr O’Connell said.
“For many children life is difficult and we try to show them it can be different.”
However, the charity is currently in deficit this year and will not be able to run for long without a cash injection.
“We need four to five million dollars a year to keep the place running,” Mr O’Connell said.
“Last year it was $4.5 million, but costs rise every year.
“We can’t run at a deficit for very long at all.”
Mr O’Connell said a few months ago they were in a desperate position but a couple of bequeaths had come through, but not enough to completely get them out of debt.
He now said the community had been galvanised and were trying to help.
“We have a funding crisis and the local community is trying to get us through it,” Mr O’Connell said.
Meanwhile, tensions over the Telstra deal continues to cause angst in the community.
Ms Gill said she had taken time off work to fight the proposal.
“I just want it resolved,” she said.
“I don’t want it hanging over us for months to come.”
And, at the end of November Education Minister Sarah Mitchell waded into the Telstra row when she said in a letter to Ms Gill that the department would not support Telstra’s application because it has “a policy of prudent avoidance in relation to the installation of mobile telecommunications facilities within school grounds”.
But as Stewart House is on a private site, the department has no say in the final decision.
Mr O’Connell said the consultation process is still ongoing.
Meanwhile, residents opposed to the move have devoted hours of their own time creating and launching a marketing campaign for Stewart House and are this weekend delivering thousands of flyers in the local community to help raise its profile.
To help go to stewarthouse.org.au/xmas-2019.