Household Items for Needy Families
Household Items For Needy Families
Seventy-two microwave ovens, ninety-two floor mops, forty-two kettles and thirty toasters – what do they have in common?
The Rotary Clubs of Prahran, Malvern and Chadstone East Malvern were excited once again to come together as part of the old Stonnington Cluster to formulate and implement a project to provide household items for families moving from homelessness to secure accommodation.
The Clubs kicked in $5,000 and the heart of Rotary – OUR Rotary Foundation provided $5,000 from a District Grant.
Most people can see the physical changes in lives that Rotary projects support but we think the big gain is in mental health knowing that you now have a safe space to call home, knowing that you have all of the basic physical needs for a home and that some of the items are still in their new boxes!!!
Rotarians:
- Gathered a list of needed items from those community organisations that provide front line support to the families transitioning from domestic violence, incarceration and other forms of homelessness to their new accommodation.
- Went shopping hauling trolley load after trolley load of goods from K Mart-sneaky question, how many 20 litre microwave ovens can you fit in one trolley?
- Stored the goods in members' garages as the pile grew from the shopping
- Utilised the services of Rotary Inner Melbourne Emergency Network (RIMERN) to consolidate all of the goods into one location – cakes and tea/coffee made the working bees a delight!!
- Distributed the goods to the families along with other items selected from the RIMERN store so that each family had a full household package.
The Rotary Foundation District Grant:
- Doubled the impact that the Club funds alone could achieve
- Rewarded the Clubs for their contributions to the Rotary Foundation, made over many years
- Excited us to look for our next community project that qualifies for a District Grant.
