What a busy 4th quarter!These are just some of the highlights...
October started with a blast thanks to Onyx Café & Johnny Vegas who put on a dinner, show & raffle fundraiser for us.
This quarter also saw our amazing Treasurer Annie Nelson awarded a well deserved Certificate of Appreciation through the NFP Annual Treasurer’s Awards. We also had the lovely Hannah who is a Duke of Edinburgh student come to help us & learn about volunteering.
On the fundraising front we held our mammoth annual online auction which was the biggest yet! We also had a jar at Grill'd Hampton & were the lucky winners. People’s Choice Raffle also launched quietly & runs until March 2023.
We won a grant with Frankston Council which will allow us to provide vital food relief to 2 local organisations in 2023. When the Victorian floods hit we contacted relevant authorities & were directed to do a callout for monetary donations & directed people to donate directly to Bendigo Bank's flood relief collection. We held multiple volunteer’s sessions at our fabulous HQ & are loving the time being saved having a permanent set up.
Parkdale Pantry became our 5th donation station!! Beaumaris Lions Club did a podcast with Deb Brook & then joined forces for our Xmas toy drive arranging for several Lions Clubs to also participate.
Our amazing community continued to rally & support families relocating from Ukraine. School items were donated to Family Life Sandringham & Chelsea Community Support. Clothes suitable for work were donated to Ready Set. We also had students from both Berrendale school & Kids Like us come for sessions & help us with packing & sorting.
December began with the final part of our federal grant which was a movie night for the community & a presentation by Volunteering Victoria. We thank Zoe Daniel MP & Mayor Hanna EL Mouallem for attending.
We also ran 5 gift wrapping stall sessions at Westfield Southland Family Life were given 150 packs for children under their care, Vacca received packs for children fleeing domestic violence, Fairway Bayside Aged Care received comfort packs for their residents & gift hampers for 13 of the main carers. We also held a massive toy drive raising well over 800 toys for children under the care of Chelsea Community Support, BayCISS, Vacca & Emerge. We thank several Lions Clubs, Nick Staikos MP, the Community in Place team at Sandringham Primary & Boss gym , Firbank College among so many others who helped us help hundreds of children in needs with toys this festive season.
Finally, we sent a large amount of food relief to BayCISS & Grace Heart Community Church to help them help others through the festive season.
Thank you to all who donated & for the support of other not for profits, companies & our super hero community. Together we are helping thousands in need every year! Who’d have thought a simple idea 3 years ago would lead to all of this?!
2023 is shaping up to be another busy year so please spread the word with our callouts & volunteer sessions. …it takes a village!
