newy.com.au – Sue Prosser, the long serving Soul Hub hospitality leader has passed away, described as selfless and giving, her work in the kitchen, on the floor and across the charity’s fundraising efforts made her a central figure in Newcastle’s care for vulnerable people.
Prosser’s death comes weeks after Lauren Kempe from NBN News reported she was handing over the reins after a long battle with ovarian cancer. For many Novocastrians, her name became closely linked with Soul Hub’s day to day work: welcoming people without judgement, feeding those in need and helping connect guests with broader support.
Soul Hub traces its origins to 2003 and now supports people experiencing homelessness, social isolation, mental health challenges, addiction, financial hardship and personal crisis, offering meals and groceries alongside social work appointments, medical services, laundry, haircuts and recovery and wellbeing programs.
Prosser was Soul Hub’s Hospitality Manager, she was also the Floor/Kitchen Manager and she was with the organisation for 15 years. She is wife to Rick, a devoted mum and grandma, and she loved serving some of the most vulnerable people in the community while regarding her team as family.
Her contribution also involved the behind the scenes work that kept the charity running. Annual reports show a Soul volunteer team headed by Prosser catered corporate breakfasts for groups including NFP Connect and Collective Hearts, with proceeds donated back to Soul Café. In 2016-17 those breakfasts raised $12,554.85, while a Wests Canteen team headed by Prosser raised $15,500 by the end of the football season.
The same work continued in later years. In 2017-18, corporate breakfasts involving Prosser raised $12,323, while the Wests Canteen team, headed by Kerry Cooper and Sue Prosser, raised $13,684. In 2020, Soul Café again recorded early Tuesday corporate breakfasts, several times a month, run by a volunteer team headed by Prosser.
Sue told NBN News she has always had a passion for helping homeless, vulnerable and people who are unseen. Every Saturday she would travel on the ferry from Stockton to serve breakfast when she eventually asked if she could take over management of the organisation.
Prosser was also closely associated with Sleepout for Soul, the charity’s major annual fundraiser. The event grew from 18 participants raising $18,000 in 2015 to 300 participants raising $150,000 in 2018, with funds helping expand guest services, recovery programs and laundry facilities. Soul Hub material in 2024 described Luke and Sue Prosser as having done every Sleepout for Soul, while Newcastle Herald reported that year noted Sue and her son Luke were sleeping in cars to raise awareness and funds.
When Soul Café became Soul Hub in 2023, the name change reflected the wider range of services being offered to the city’s poor and vulnerable. That year the Ian and Shirley Norman Foundation provided a new home at 437 Hunter Street where Soul Hub started providing a service there on 11 December.
Today, Soul Hub’s “Soul family” includes more than 380 volunteers giving more than 1780 hours a week to the community. While that work involves many people, Prosser’s place in the story was very hands on, she helped turn donated food, volunteer labour, business breakfasts, footy canteens and fundraising nights into practical care for people who often arrived hungry, isolated or in crisis.
Sue’s husband Rick said “We will miss her tremendously. She will be missed by more than we know. I know the infectious caring life of sue has been and will be multiplied! She was the unique gift to god to us all, she bought heaven to earth in a way only Sue could”
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