Share more, waste less and care for every child

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Newsletter

March 2021

Good afternoon,

Welcome to our first supporter newsletter for 2021! I hope you managed to spend some time relaxing over the Christmas break - which I know seems like a lifetime ago!

We have had a really busy start to the year and it’s great to see the warehouse once again alive with the sounds and activities of volunteers and social workers.

On another note, at the end of March we will sadly farewell our St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums CEO Jessica Macpherson OAM.

We are beyond grateful to Jessie for her incredible leadership and we will miss her greatly but we understand that the time is right for her to take on her next challenge.

Jessie has grown our organisation from a simple idea in 2009 to what it is today: a much-loved organisation with thousands of volunteers supporting more than 20,000 babies and children each year across three branches in Clayton, Geelong and Ballarat.

Jessie has also inspired and personally supported many other like-minded organisations across Australia and she has received several awards for her community work, including an Order of Australia Medal in 2019. She was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2017 and was an award winner in the Pro Bono Australia Impact 25 last year.

Jessie is leaving to follow the seed of another idea to help people get well paid, meaningful and flexible jobs in technology. It is the same technology that drove the rapid growth over the three branches and she plans to use it to help other organisations with their digital transformations.

Jessie’s last day as CEO will be Wednesday 31 March 2021.

Image source: Jason South, The Age

Why your support matters

Recently we were able to support a family where there is little income because of job loss. The difference you make by providing items like prams, clothing, linen, nappies and wipes means that what little money there is can be spent on keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table.

Thanks to your donations, the impact of this disadvantage is not further exacerbated by this family becoming homeless - they deserve not to have to face the unthinkable of choosing between food and nappies or paying the rent. Families can focus on strengthening their position and becoming financially strong again.

Thanks to you we can work in many ways with social workers to provide support.

Mother's Day Lunch

It’s with heavy hearts that we let you know of the very hard decision to not go ahead with our Mother’s Day Lunch in May 2021.

We were looking forward to celebrating with you after the year that was 2020 but there is just too much uncertainty right now to go ahead with any plans for a large fundraising event.

We would like to say a special thanks to all our sponsors and partners who have shown unwavering support for Geelong Mums, especially McGrath Real Estate [[link removed]] and Mt Duneed Estate [[link removed]].

We don’t want anyone to miss out on a Mother’s Day get together with friends, so there will be plenty of ideas on our social media pages in the coming months for ways to still support Geelong Mums and have a lunch of your own. Why not organise a table for lunch with friends at your favourite restaurant? Or have a catered meal at home and fundraise for Geelong Mums!

Welcome back Corporate Teams!

We’re really pleased to have welcomed back corporate teams to Geelong Mums HQ. After 12 months of zoom meetings and remote working, workplace teams have enjoyed the chance to share a morning away from their desks, having a few laughs, learning some new skills, all while helping families in need. It’s a great way to get the work groups back together and working together as a team while supporting those who need our help the most.

If you’d like to organise a volunteering session for your workgroup or for more information, please contact Kelly Suvoltos, Partnerships Coordinator at [[email protected]]

Your feedback is important to us

As a valued supporter, we appreciate your feedback. We would be very grateful if you could take five minutes to tell us about your experience with Geelong Mums by filling out our survey [[link removed]].

We want to do everything possible to share more, waste less and care for every child, and we need your continued support and feedback to make this happen. We also want to ensure that you are feeling appreciated and heard as a supporter and your survey answers will help us to continuously improve our service and communication to you.

Please complete the survey here [[link removed]]. Your responses will be treated confidentially and we ask that all surveys are completed by Friday 30 April.

Start survey now [[link removed]] Volunteer spotlight

We would like to highlight what a wonderful contribution a few of our male volunteers make to Geelong Mums.

Neil retired about 2 years ago, and was looking for somewhere to volunteer, and ‘make a difference’. He had thought about driving cancer patients to and from treatment, however, when his step daughter asked him to drop off some nappies that she’d received for her own daughter in lieu of birthday presents… Neil became curious about the work that Geelong Mums did.

He was given a tour by our gorgeous Graeme and Kristina, who he said were ‘down to earth and really lovely’. Before he knew it, he’d done the induction and started working in the Tinker space with Emma and Merrin.

Neil loves coming into Geelong Mums and ‘making a difference’. He is a fabulous cleaner, and will have a go at repairing, pumping, fixing or adjusting any one of our prams. Neil particularly loves the fact that you can come and go whenever you please from Geelong Mums. ‘This suits my retired lifestyle perfectly, as I never know what I’ll be doing from week to week’ he said.

Trevor and Ken both wanted to ‘help their community’ and joined Geelong Mums several years ago. Trevor said he didn’t want to sit at home and waste his spare time. Since both Trevor and Ken have joined Geelong Mums they have cleaned hundreds of prams, helped repair cots and prams and highchairs, and have been an integral part of our organisation. Trevor has gone on to recruit two of his grandsons, and sometimes they volunteer together to catch up. “Geelong Mums is a good place, full of good people. I like the feeling of satisfaction I get from helping people” he said.

From left - right: David, Chris, Neil, Trevor and Ken

Update from our board

We are delighted to announce that Morelle Bull has joined the St Kilda Mums Inc. Volunteer Board. Morelle is a senior lawyer with over 15 years' experience working in a number of regulatory and legal roles. Morelle currently works at ANZ in the Australia Division where she is responsible for supporting the business lending teams.

Morelle has been a valued volunteer since September 2017, when she joined our Finance Risk and Audit Committee (FRAC). Morelle has also worked very closely with CEO & Founder Jessie on policy and legal matters.

Stories from our community

Recently Isabella dropped into Geelong Mums HQ to share the money she has made from busking - she plays violin outside Woolworths in Highton.

Thank you Isabella, we're so grateful for your beautiful donation which means we'll be able to buy two cots that will help two more babies sleep soundly!

School group volunteering is back!

We are so excited to be able to welcome school groups back to Geelong Mums HQ this year, with a number of schools already booking in. Students in Year 9 and above have the opportunity to learn about the need for safe prams and cots, warm clothing, books and nappies. We explain some of the causes of disadvantage of the people we help and we also provide feedback received from social workers and families. We’ve seen school groups from Geelong Lutheran College, Clonard College and SEDA so far this year.

Please see our website [[link removed]] for more information.

Annual Report

Our 2019/20 Annual Report is now online. Thank you to our amazing community who helped 20,004 children in an incredibly challenging year.

Click here [[link removed]] to read our Annual Report and to learn more about your impact this last year.

Thank you for sharing the joy Follow us.

Find inspiration. Join our community by sharing your photos. #geelongmums

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Geelong South VIC Australia Geelong Mums would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands we work on across Victoria and pay our respects to their elders, both past and present and to their children and young people, who are our future elders and caretakers of this great land.

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