Graham Long
At the time that Wayside called him into Ministry, Graham was a postie. He'd almost perfected riding a little motor bike when Wayside called him to be their next Minister. In his first life, Graham was a social worker in South Australia, specialising in the field of child protection. Graham trained for ministry from 1979 to 1982. After a few years in church ministry, Graham became a chaplain to Parramatta Prison and he ran a church welfare agency. Academically, after ordination, Graham pursued studies in philosophy achieving degrees from Catholic Theological Union and from the Catholic Institute of Sydney. A Masters honours in philosophy was halted when a near fatal motorcycle accident changed all of life's priorities in 2001. Graham has been married to Robyn for 40 years and together they have two children and three grand daughters.
The Wayside Chapel
The Wayside Chapel has provided unconditional love and support for people on and around the streets of Kings Cross since 1964. Many of these people have endured lives of great hardship and struggle with alcohol and other drug addiction, mental health issues and homelessness.
Each year Wayside assists thousands of people in gaining equitable access to essential health, welfare and related services.
In the past year alone Wayside has provided amongst other services, 7500 meals, clothing for 2688 people and 2924 counseling sessions with over 2300 referrals to services and agencies. A further 50,000 visits were made by people just stopping by for a chat, a coffee or a quiet place to think.
Some people are fortunate to have supportive families, friends and neighbors, good physical and mental health and inner strength even in the face of great adversity. For those that don’t, there’s The Wayside Chapel.