Our History

“People need people – we all need people. Loneliness can be as bad as hunger”.

Brother Ignatius Hannick

St. Patrick’s Community Support Centre has come a long way since it began as Fremantle’s first soup kitchen in 1972. Shocked by the number of homeless and destitute who knocked on the door of St. Patrick’s Church, Brother Ignatius Hannick devoted his life to helping these disadvantaged people in our community. “Some were suffering from malnutrition”, he recalls. “Some were anaemic and in the cold weather we would always have people calling for something to eat”. Local bakeries and bigger companies, such as Coles, were asked to help and almost all answered the call.

However, St. Patrick’s parish hall soon became too small so the former St. Joseph’s primary school building in Parry Street was taken over in 1980. Father Hannick rolled up his shirt sleeves and with the help of volunteers, he cleaned, scraped and repaired the disused premises. To meet the needs of the 80 to 90 daily visitors, a social worker was employed and with a grant from the Drug and Alcohol Authority, two additional workers were employed in 1985 to expand the services offered, including counselling, information, referrals and advocacy.