Jim Kennedy

Jim Kennedy

Gordon House, Williamstown hostel

Like many of the first residents of Wintringham, Jim Kennedy lived at Gordon House, a 10 story shelter for homeless men and women in South Melbourne. Despite losing a leg in earlier years, every day Jim would push a trolley up and down the corridors collecting empty beer bottles and then stacking them outside the building in a shed, where they would eventually be collected by a bottle recycling company.

All of the money earnt from the bottle sales, Jim donated to World Vision to support an underprivileged little girl who lived on the other side of the world, whom he never met.

Jim's extraordinary kindness made him a legend at Gordon House.
Jim by Bill McAuley photographer


Jim moved to our Williamstown Hostel in 1993, where he lived until his death.