What a whirlwind! We had a dramatic increase in aid requests and an even larger increase in single requests via social workers or directly in the lead up to Christmas. Lack of space was a huge limiting factor that saw us moving items several times to accommodate these requests. We also ramped up our volunteer sessions.

The Avalon Centre received more aid for the homeless & Emerge for Women & Children & Olive’s Place received new clothes & toiletries for women, a male and children who fled domestic violence and are under their care.

The last of the sleeping bags from Ark Tarps went to Homesglen Employment Centre for people in need they support. We also provided some of our toiletry packs to them & they gave us a much needed box of toothpaste.

A request for food aid was received from Grace Heart Community Church which we fulfilled within days. Thanks to a grant from Community Bank Highett we also helped them set up their upcoming after school care facility and provided them with much needed equipment as well as 150 after school packs for children & youth that will attend.

We were fortunate to receive donations of toothpaste from Dental Skin & Beauty who will help us ongoing plus Beacon Cove Dental.

A further 138 pairs of prescription glasses went to to U3A Bentleigh, helping improve quality of life for many in need. There were quite a few private aid requests via social workers for families who have fled domestic violence. These included a bike was also generously donated to a boy whose family fled domestic violence, giving him a safe and reliable way to get to and from school.

In October we were honored to receive a state award for Social Wellbeing at the Keep Australia Beautiful Tidy Towns awards! This recognition reflects the power of community led care where environmental responsibility and social wellbeing go hand in hand.

We were also proud to be finalists in the Charitable Program category of Glen Eira’s Excellence in business awards.

Following a fire bombing of a shop in Mentone, we helped one of our community who lived in the flats above and had lost everything except her much loved cat. With the help of her support worker, our community rallied fast.Within hours and over the following days, people went above and beyond, donating all the requested items to help her set up her new flat and her cat!

Our annual online auction fundraiser in late October was our biggest yet. As a 100% volunteer run and unfunded charity, we rely on fundraisers and the generosity of our supporters to help fill the gaps for items the public can’t easily donate as aid requests continue to grow at unprecedented levels.

We thank the amazing Women’s Division at The Victoria Golf Club for inviting our founder, Deb Brook, to speak at their annual fundraiser day, and for their generous donation.

A call out was made to support four children who had tragically lost both parents over the past few years. Their aunt, who has taken on their care, needed assistance with Christmas presents and food and once again, our community stepped up.

In December we provided well over $1000 in non perishable food relief to BayCISS & Grace Heart Community Church thanks to community donations.

We also received a generous donation from The Royal Melbourne Golf Club who selected us as this year’s as their fundraiser recipient. We aim to start another long term support program for children in need as well as usuing the funds for numerous aid initiatives to thousands in need that we self fund.

Once again we thank Crossway Baptist Church in Brighton who donated 40 invaluable Christmas food hampers that went to Emerge and Olive’s Place to domestic violence survivors in their care in safe houses.

150 packs for children under the care of Family Life were completed & we received an urgent request from VACCA for 400 packs for children under their care. It’s impossible to complete 550 childrens packs at once due to our severe lack of space, so we constantly moved items around and sent completed packs out progressiveley every week. The community donated what they could but there were thouands of items needed so we ordered supplies weekly as there wasn’t anywhere to put the thousands of items we needed. A mammoth initiative but with the community’s & volnteers help we did it! We also thank the team at Top Removals who deliverred Family Life’s packs as a communty service.

Our toy drive expanded significantly to help over 1,500 children under the care of 9 not for profit organisations: BayCISS, Chelsea Community & Support, BNH, SECASA, Emerge, Olive’s Place, Grace Heart Community Church, Uniting Vic and VACCA. Our community didn’t let us down & sprung into action. We are very greatful to many places who held toy drives and also to Sacred Heart Primary School Sandringam for filling our car with items left over from their market day.Special thanks to: Boss Gym, St Finbars Primary School, 3 retirment homes: Cheltenham Manor, Greenwood Village Mews & Greenwood Manor; Australian Independent Retirees (AIR), Brad Rowswell MP, Nick Staikos MP123 Read To Me, Birches kindregarten and many community members who went above & beyond. And once more WE DID IT! Christmas aid also went out to around a dozen families right through to Christmas Eve which is a significant increase on past years.

Mid year we received a donation of professional grade cookware and 2 domestic violence organisations took what they neded . The balance went to the Sikh Volunteers, Matt’s Kitchen & Find a Penny who do amazing work feeding people in need in the wider community.

We are truly grateful for your support, which helps us continue providing vital assistance to those in need within our community.