Reverend Bill Crews AO

Reverend Bill Crews was an electrical engineer until 1971 when he decided to work full time at the Wayside Chapel. There he created the first 24-hour Crisis Centre in Australia. Rev. Crews directed the social programs of the chapel and the Crisis Centre until 1983. During this time he established the first program in Australia to reunite adoptees and birth parents (Reunion Register) and the first program to assist parents who were reaching the point of abusing their children (Child Abuse Prevention Service). He established the first type of modern youth refuge in Australia. In early 1978 he became involved along with the Rev. Ted Noffs in creating the Life Education Centres which are now all over Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand, New Zealand, England and America. He left the Wayside Chapel to study theology and in 1986  was ordained and is now the minister of the Ashfield Uniting Church, where he has created the Exodus Foundation to assist homeless and abandoned youth and other people in need. In 1992, he was voted Father of the Year and Humanitarian of the Year. In 1998, Rev. Crews was included in the National Trust’s 100 “National Living Treasures”. He was awarded the Order of Australia in 1999 for his service to the disadvantaged and his work with homeless youth.