Community support buys family service some more time

However, the Greater Shepparton community dug deep during a fundraising push late last year and donated more than $30,000 to keep the half-century-old service open after the Caroline Chisholm Society announced the service would close at the end of the year.

Close it did.

But, with the funds, the society was able to re-open the doors of the material aid service that operates out of a small, humble building on St Andrews Rd, Shepparton, three mornings a week, in February.

“It is thanks to the community that we are still here, still supporting the community,” Caroline Chisholm Society chief executive Lolou Kini said.

“Since we reopened in February, we’ve been able to help look after 75 kids and 26 families.”

For 50 years, the service has provided material aid, such as free clothing, nappies and other essentials for babies and children.

If stocked with donations, it can also offer items including prams, cots and car seats.

For the past three years, the organisation provided further wraparound services, with two practitioners employed to deliver pregnancy and parenting support.

That service has not been reinstated.

While the money has bought some time, without ongoing support, the material aid service may face the chopping block again around October of this year.

“I would make an appeal for people who have used our service over the past 50 years and are now in a position to give back to other mums who need the baby packs that they once needed to please make a donation,” Caroline Chisholm Society president Christine Campbell said.

“The need in the community is increasing. We see more and more families in dire situations,” Ms Kini said.

“They don’t know when they can next change their child’s nappy.

“That’s why organisations like us need to be here. You can walk through the door and not be judged.”

Help is provided to anyone who needs it.

No referrals or Medicare cards are needed. No criteria are means-tested.

Ms Kini and Ms Campbell said they were appreciative of any donation, large or small, monetary or goods, and told the story of how a $50 cash donation was used to immediately help a family in a time-critical situation recently.

“One mum needed socks for her kids to start school, so with that $50 note we were able to go straight down and buy brand new socks and obtain a receipt to show where the money was used for effective and immediate help,” Ms Kini said.

Ms Campbell wanted to thank the service’s seven active volunteers, who she said were the “mainstay” of GV Pregnancy and Family Support Service.

“It’s the local community’s passion for helping young families that has kept us laughing, crying and going for 50 years,” she said.

The service is currently running low on boys’ size four to six clothing and is also calling for prams, particularly twin prams.

It is still accepting monetary donations, which are tax deductible, to the same bank account used for last year’s Save GV Pregnancy and Family Support Service campaign.

“If anyone is looking to make a donation before June 30, now’s a good time. We’d be very grateful,” Ms Campbell said.

∎ Cash donations to the service can be made here.

∎ Goods can be donated to at 15A St Andrews Rd, Shepparton, during opening hours, which are Monday to Wednesday, 9am to noon.