"I started my career with Coopers & Lybrand and then I worked for Deloitte where I qualified as a CA. I went into commerce and worked at Mirvac and the Yellow Pages. I ended up going back into accounting, working for KPMG part-time as a senior manager. Managing a foundation for a couple of the partners was how I stepped into not-for-profit land. I decided I would much rather work for a purpose serving vulnerable stakeholders, than work for shareholders.

Both my parents were volunteers so there was a family culture of service. My dad, at 92, is still a volunteer at a local community garden where he restores old farm machinery. My husband introduced me to the Jesuit ethos of men and women for others. He’s definitely a man of service as well. One daughter studies midwifery in Darwin and is passionate about Indigenous women’s health. Another works in childcare. We’ve all got the “service” bug! We don’t have huge bank balances, but we’ve always got people gathered around our table.

Pictured: Lorrae Collins FCA. Image credit: Nic Walker

Wayside is about creating a community of no ‘us and them’. Our visitors are valued as people and if they choose to seek out services to make changes to their situation, we don’t meet them with a clipboard and say, ‘OK, what’s your problem?’ We meet them with a cup of tea and say, ‘We’d like to have a chat’. We see people not as a problem to be solved but a person to be met, which really aligns with my personal ethos. By contributing to your community you actually find friendships and value through service. It’s an incredibly great fit for me.

I’m on the board of directors for Mary’s House Services. It runs a women’s refuge in North Sydney, a shocking necessity with this terrible scourge of domestic violence. We also have the Daisy Centre, which provides information and support for women so they can make a controlled exit. Women who flee go back seven times; women who properly transition away with counselling and financial and legal support are more likely to survive.

When donors are interested in supporting a charity, they do their due diligence and say, ‘That board/organisation has an experienced chartered accountant, a high-level social worker and a doctor.’ I think that gives donors assurance that their money is going to be well looked after.” 

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