Another busy quarter! Early July, with the help of several of our amazing volunteers, we moved into our much needed HQ at Moorleigh Community Village and our volunteer sessions started up quickly. This room will save us considerable time and allow us to produce more packs etc to help the community in need.
Our 1st volunteer session was for our homeless initiative & we welcomed Amy & Ruby who held a collection of required items at Caulfield Grammar & helped pack our backpacks. It was also a privilege to have David Southwick MP attend this session & help with the packing & meet the girls & the volunteers. We packed 126 backpacks with each pack holding up to 30 items each! We also supplied in excess of 1530 items of clothing through a community drive & some generous monetary donations.
We were delighted when Monique, Amanda & Andrea decided to put together a pamper hamper for a Mum fleeing domestic violence instead of doing Kris Kringles at their Xmas in July. This hamper was presented to Emerge who had the perfect family in need of something extra special.
With the help of our community, we worked on numerous initiatives for homeless, domestic violence, aged care & food relief & held multiple volunteer sessions. We also continued to rally our community to help Ukranian families who have relocated locally. The Avalon Centre, Emerge, VACCA & Hope in a Suitcase all received comfort packs and goods from us. We loved meeting our new neighbors including Thalassemia & Sickle Cell Australia who gave us a very generous donation of goods for our homeless & emergency packs.
Donations came in of beautifully made quilts, beanies & rugs came to us from CWA Mentone, Bay Quilters, CWA Bayside & Sylvie from The Good Vibe Society donated vitamins & cakes which were used in our homeless & food relief initiatives. 5th Brighton Guides also held a drive for much needed requested items for our domestic violence comfort packs which have all been packed & distributed. We also received some unexpected & extremely appreciated donations from CWA Bentleigh Day Branch & CWA Bayside. It continues to warm our hearts when charities & community groups help each other for the common cause. No amount of thank you’s feels adequate.
We attended the inaugural Volunteer Expo held by the City of Kingston & made some valuable contacts. The month of September saw us receive a Grill'd jar at the Hampton store which our amazing community filled up getting us a $300 donation.
We received an urgent request from BayCISS for basic food supplies that we fulfilled within a day thanks to a generous donation we received from Bayside City Council late 2021. Shortly after during National Student Volunteer Week, Haileybury held a short burst food drive which went to both BayCISS & Grace Heart Community Church who’s demand on aid has grown significantly. Special thanks to James Newbury MP for helping us deliver the goods to BayCISS.
This quarter also saw us fulfill the Westfield Local Heroes grant from Westfield Southland that we received in 2021. The funding went to a few areas including providing comfort packs for children fleeing domestic violence to Emerge. We also topped up the art program BCER helped SECASA establish in 2021, as well as top up counselling packs. The bulk of the money went to supplies for a vital music therapy program that SECAS can now establish. The grant will help hundreds of children experiencing sexual assault & domestic violence for many years to come as well as providing initial comfort to dozens of children in immediate need.
We were delighted to win grants from the City of Kingston, Frankston City Council & City of Bayside Council. These will all allow us to provide vital aid to those in need well into 2023.
The final quarter is even busier so please keep a watch on our social media. Keep spreading the word about us as the more members we have the more we can help where help is most needed.
Find out more and see all the photos on our Facebook page.