HOME in Queanbeyan will be hosting their annual movie fundraiser night next month at The Q, screening the film The Soloist, a movie based on a true story about a homeless cellist who caught the attention of an LA-based columnist.
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Those attending the night will also hear from keynote speaker, swimming legend and Olympic gold medallist, Petria Thomas.
HOME manager Anne Pratt said there will be food and drinks as usual before swimming legend Thomas discusses her life, career and her own experience with depression.
Ms Pratt said the night will be an opportunity for the community to connect with like-minded people whose main objective was to support HOME in Queanbeyan, a home-grown organisation that receives no government funding and survives on local funding.
"We don't get government funding, so we need the community support. I like to say that HOME in Queanbeyan is proudly community owned," she said.
"HOME gives people living with a mental illness an opportunity for their life to change. They see themselves just as a mental illness [sufferer], so we work on that mental illness to keep it stable so we can find the human side of them again.
"A couple of our residents are working, so it's about finding themselves again and not just being recognised as a mental illness."
Patron of HOME in Queanbeyan, Sir William Deane and his wife Lady Mary Deane will again be attending the night and Ms Pratt said the Deanes had "supported us from the beginning when we were just a thought."
The movie fundraiser night will be held Friday, September 5 and will raise money for the organisation that currently houses 19 residents - five women and 14 men aged between 28 and 69 - who are all living with a mental illness.
Tickets for the night can be purchased for $70 by visiting www.theq.net.au or by calling (02) 6285 6290.