I have only worked at the Chapel for three months but some people don’t take long to find a place in your heart and Paul R. was one of those people. So it was with great shock and sadness that we learnt of his sudden death last Thursday afternoon.
Paul was a local of Bondi and used our services at Norman Andrews House. I first came to know Paul when he overhead me asking Victoria, another staff member, to ask a carpenter to bring a table in the Chapel back to it’s former glory. Privately he said to me that he could do it and we didn’t need to pay him because the Chapel had been so good to him. So with the help of 2 strong men I saw walking outside we brought the table downstairs and into the lane way. Over the course of the next 3 weeks, Paul worked to make our table beautiful again.
Paul had a passion for gardening, having been one of the people who created the balcony garden at Norman Andrews House. He had been asking us for a while whether he could start a community garden in the rooftop balcony at the Chapel. Finally before Christmas I said yes! Immediately he set to work and on my return from holidays he handed me a 3 page proposal for what he saw the Garden becoming - "a place of beauty and healing with programs that would extend out to the wider community." Far more encompassing that I had originally conceived.
Paul was excited, he had a purpose and he was looking better and more confident in himself. He was an educated man and the depth of his thinking in his garden proposal was impressive.
Every question I asked him, he had a considered answer for. We took ‘before’ photos of the space in order to show progress over time. He reviewed my strategy document and was both insightful and encouraging of the work we do in this Mission and its significance to the people in Bondi. He constantly championed for the lonely and isolated.
He was to be my guide and leader on how to create the largest Native and Edible Balcony Garden in NSW. Now I am at a loss.
Paul was a local of Bondi and used our services at Norman Andrews House. I first came to know Paul when he overhead me asking Victoria, another staff member, to ask a carpenter to bring a table in the Chapel back to it’s former glory. Privately he said to me that he could do it and we didn’t need to pay him because the Chapel had been so good to him. So with the help of 2 strong men I saw walking outside we brought the table downstairs and into the lane way. Over the course of the next 3 weeks, Paul worked to make our table beautiful again.
Paul had a passion for gardening, having been one of the people who created the balcony garden at Norman Andrews House. He had been asking us for a while whether he could start a community garden in the rooftop balcony at the Chapel. Finally before Christmas I said yes! Immediately he set to work and on my return from holidays he handed me a 3 page proposal for what he saw the Garden becoming - "a place of beauty and healing with programs that would extend out to the wider community." Far more encompassing that I had originally conceived.
Paul was excited, he had a purpose and he was looking better and more confident in himself. He was an educated man and the depth of his thinking in his garden proposal was impressive.
Every question I asked him, he had a considered answer for. We took ‘before’ photos of the space in order to show progress over time. He reviewed my strategy document and was both insightful and encouraging of the work we do in this Mission and its significance to the people in Bondi. He constantly championed for the lonely and isolated.
He was to be my guide and leader on how to create the largest Native and Edible Balcony Garden in NSW. Now I am at a loss.
On his way to the Pavilion last Thursday Paul left a bunch of magazines with Zoe at the Chapel saying they were for the Garden and he would pick them up on his way back. The day before I had showed him Pinterest and how I was gathering ideas on my iPad. Paul was not IT savvy and so the magazines were his way of creating the same. Paul never came back for his magazines that afternoon as he collapsed at the Pavilion. Victoria and I ran down to see him. He had died before we arrived. I gave the Police the information of who Paul was and they asked me “What was your relationship to Paul?”. Victoria and I looked at each other not knowing how to answer - “Well, he came to the Chapel, he used our services, he was a friend, he was an associate - we were working together on a garden, I don’t know how to answer that question”.
I couldn’t answer that question because people like Paul don’t fit into a simple little category in our lives. I think I speak for everyone who knew him, liked him and held him in high regard. I don’t know a whole lot about his life story, but we took him on face value - he was very kind, generous with his time, intelligent, funny, and so so likeable!
We at the Chapel, Chrissy, the staff and his mates at Norman Andrews will miss Paul greatly.
Rest in Peace Paul.
Liana
[email protected]
CEO
I couldn’t answer that question because people like Paul don’t fit into a simple little category in our lives. I think I speak for everyone who knew him, liked him and held him in high regard. I don’t know a whole lot about his life story, but we took him on face value - he was very kind, generous with his time, intelligent, funny, and so so likeable!
We at the Chapel, Chrissy, the staff and his mates at Norman Andrews will miss Paul greatly.
Rest in Peace Paul.
Liana
[email protected]
CEO