“I started here at The House With No Steps in 2004. I’m currently Executive General Manager for all of our businesses. The House With No Steps employs over 530 people with a disability. That’s all over ACT, Forbes, Sydney, Newcastle, here in Alstonville, Gold Coast , Sunshine Coast and Townsville. We have 4 portfolios of business here and one of them is Summerland House Farm. We have a packaging portfolio, medical packaging included. We have a business in Newcastle which looks after commercial laundry, manufacturing and a recycling facility. We have a facility services division and that’s looking after some big contracts like the M7 in Sydney. We manage a lot of Telstra sites, Lismore Shopping Square and community housing. We also support other disability organisations who have teams in other areas on a subcontract basis.
I do find it exciting, rewarding and humbling to be a part of an organisation that has that social impact. Here on site we employ close to 90 people with a disability, most of whom haven’t been provided or offered other employment opportunities. It’s wonderful being able to support that and in a very meaningful, purposeful way. There’s a whole range of roles here and they’re all really important roles that need to be done. Whether that be customer service, fruit packing, farm or nursery, they’re all required roles and people like Benny and all his co-workers appreciate that what they’re doing out here is appreciated by the public and by us. It’s adding a real sense of self worth to themselves and it’s the identity, they’re connected to Summerland House Farm, part of House With No Steps and I think that’s an element of pride for many as well.
The public are often really surprised what we do here. Our farm produces over 100 ton of macadamias per year, about 20,000 trays of avocados which all go off to markets. We also support local growers through packing services so around 200,000 trays go through here. About 5,000 tons of macadamias are dehusked and sorted on site. It’s a really critical horticulture hub for the region. We have our retail nursery, a gift shop supported 100 percent by volunteers, a hydroponic facility growing a range of vegetables, the water park and family attraction area with mini golf and more. That flows into our cafe and function centre.
I love being a part of this team and coming to work. I enjoy turning up here each day. That rubs off across the team, doesn’t matter what the role is. They are all very valued roles, really adding that sense of self worth and purpose. We want to do more. We’ve had families visit the site, living in Sydney but wanting to move up here to give an opportunity to their child and looking for that genuine employment opportunity. We want to continue to develop more roles.
The House With No Steps began with a man named Lionel Watts. In 1956 he was 28 years old with a family and a great career when he got Polio and ended up a quadriplegic. He was so sick he was down to 38 kilos. He could use his left arm slightly and he tried to get back into the workforce after a few years. . He knew he had a lot to offer but was ostracised and not considered to have anything of value as an employee anymore so he, in effect founded The House With No Steps for that reason. He wanted to be able to provide opportunities for people with a disability so The House was established in 1962 and then up here Lionel saw the opportunity for farm based work so in 1972 The House With No Steps commenced here. He passed away in 2000 but his wife Dorothy and daughter Nicole still visit. If it wasn’t for Lionels vision and drive from a wheelchair the landscape for people with disabilty would be very different.”