I don’t know about you, but I felt like winter might never end this year – it seemed to be a long one! Finally, however, the sun is peeking through the clouds, the flowers are starting to blossom and there is a sense of renewal and hope in the air – it’s Spring!
And with Spring comes the inevitable ‘spring clean’. It’s a great time for a clear out – getting ready for a new year and, if needed, a new start.
And at Eureka Mums we can help with both the clear out and the new start. For you, we will be happy to take your pre-loved baby items off your hands. For the families we support, with your help we can give that sense of hope and a new start, by providing them with everything they need for their new baby or for a child in desperate need.
So far this year, across Eureka, St Kilda and Geelong Eureka Mums, we’ve rehomed a staggering $2.5M dollars worth of items – thanks to you, our incredible supporters and donors.
From cots to prams, car seats to high chairs, clothes to linen, shoes to toys – these items are now where they belong, in the hands of the babies and children who need them the most.
And don’t worry, if you don’t have baby items to clear out – we still need your help with a financial donation – a donation that will REALLY make an impact.
As we head into the festive season, demand for essential items will increase and so will the number of orders we receive. Every dollar donated will help us meet this demand – so I really hope I can rely on your incredible continued support by donating to our Festive Appeal. Keep an eye on your inbox for details of how to give the best gift you possibly can to a child in need.
Thank you – and I hope this time of renewal is as kind to you, as you are to us.
Warm regards,
Ruth Holdaway MBE
Chief Executive Officer
We recently dropped off a bulk delivery valued at $17,846 to BADAC – Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-Op. The delivery included cots, toys, book packs, and 48 clothing and linen bundles, all ready for distribution to local families in need.
We can only provide for the families that need us most because of you – our generous supporters. Whether you donate preloved items or money, we are so grateful for your help, which means we can continue to do this life-changing work.
We felt privileged to help a 17 year old single mum recently. Ally (not her real name), lives alone and doesn’t drive, and so has been pretty much housebound since her new baby arrived. It’s a lot for a 17 year old to cope with, and the longer she stayed home, the more isolated she would be. Her social worker, Samantha, turned to us for help – and we were more than happy to oblige.
Samantha collected a number of items for Ally. Trish, who looks after our orders, handed over a bouncer and a pram to help this new Mum. She was also able to provide some nappies and wipes to get her started with the baby’s routine and a few little toiletries for Ally herself – to help her feel valued and appreciated – a little confidence boost at a challenging time.
Thanks to your support of our organisation, Ally now has more freedom. She and her gorgeous new baby can get out and about thanks to the amazing, good as new, pram we were able to gift to her.
In any given week, we can have up to 180 case workers receive items for those most in need.
We can only do this great work and provide for the families that need us most because of you – our generous supporters. Whether you donate preloved items, money or your time as a volunteer, we are so grateful for your help, which means we in turn can help even more Ally’s out there, and continue to do this life-changing work.
Recently, a bus pulled into the car park at our Melbourne warehouse and out of it sprang an excited group of schoolgirls from Mentone Girls Grammar. The Year 1 girls had organised a donation drive and had ‘popped by’ to deliver everything from clothes to cot linen, teddies to sterilisers. We are so grateful to the girls and congratulate them on what they did for the community!
If your school, kindergarten or community group is keen to get involved, read more about organising a fundraiser.
Photo: The Anthony Costa Foundation Board, General Manager and Family Members at the Geelong Mums Warehouse.
The Anthony Costa Foundation is a Geelong-based family foundation that seeks to make a positive impact in the communities where the Costa families live and work.
Earlier this year we entered into an incredibly generous multi-year, million dollar funding agreement with the Foundation. This ensures we can continue to provide our critical service to vulnerable babies and children, across the state of Victoria.
In addition, the family and team from the Foundation spent a day volunteering in our warehouse in South Geelong. This is a fabulous hands-on-experience, in which any members of our community can participate, and underpins the depth of the commitment of the Anthony and Elaine Costa and Robert and Rita Costa families to support those in need in our community. We are extremely thankful to all members of these families for their ongoing support.
Our Festive Appeal is on now and we are aiming to raise $250,000 much needed funds across the organisation. This will allow us to continue helping the thousands of babies and children that need us. Please give a gift that really counts and donate now.
Giving and receiving gifts creates a moment of connection.
This moment is only amplified when it is unexpected or from someone you don’t know personally. The essentials that we rehome and gift from St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums exist because of you, our wonderful supporters.
Families who need a bit of extra support are often linked to multiple professionals or agencies, and when this important support is complemented with a gift for their children, it’s a catalyst for connection. We are incredibly proud to support maternal child health nurses, social workers and practitioners’ professional impact so that vulnerable Victorian children can thrive.
I recently received a gorgeous long letter and I wanted to share some amazing excerpts with you. *identifying information has been edited for privacy purposes*
‘Pam’ has retired and been volunteering at a regional Victorian hospital for a number of years. In recent months, the social work team has requested items from us for new families and children in their care. Pam takes great delight and enjoyment delivering these essentials to the babies and children.
“I just felt I needed to write to you and say that volunteering with our local social worker on this particular project is the best thing I’ve done in my life and I am so grateful to her and your organisation for allowing me to have the delightful task of making so many families very happy and relieving them of a lot of stress and worry.
“We cover a very large area with a number of our families living in smaller towns and on farms. Some of them are quite isolated in more ways than one.
“It’s a real surprise when we have produced your beautifully presented clothes, bassinet sets etc. They had thought we were going to produce maybe a couple of little outfits for their new baby and it was wonderful to see their faces when they saw the parcels.
“A first-time Dad was struggling with providing some of the basic items and was having ‘heart palpitations’ thinking about buying the larger items. We were able to gift him and his wife a beautiful pram and he was quite overcome when he saw it.
“Another mum came in to see us with her new baby and her other three children. We were able to give her clothes for them all and her 5 year old daughter was so happy with a pair of runners that she sat down and put them on straight away with a big smile on her face.”
The connection created by giving and receiving is the fuel that drives us to ensure we fulfill our vision of supporting every child in Victoria that needs us by 2030.
From us all at St Kilda, Geelong and Eureka Mums, thank you so much for your incredible support.
Warm regards,
Tamara Maddrell
Senior Outbound Operations & Networks Manager
The best start in life – that’s our jam.
Babies require so much of their parents and caregivers. The stress parents feel if they are unable to provide the essential items for their child to thrive is extraordinary.
As the Senior Operations & Networks Manager at St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums, I lead a team of fabulous staff who ensure our charity rehomes essentials to give kids the best start in life. The first 2000 days of a child’s life shapes a child's future and we are committed to sharing resources with families who need our support.
I want to share with you a story about a mum who recently arrived from Afghanistan with her 12 month old without any belongings. Not only was she learning how to navigate an Australian life, she was ensuring her child had access to the health services she needed. The solution lay in a re-homed pram from us. This pram provided the perfect tool for her to learn public transport, sit in waiting rooms and shop for food with her child. Her everyday experience was mirrored back to her with other parents with their child in their pram living the same experiences. A feeling of inclusion lay at the heart of the gift of this pram.
All of the families we support are linked to an agency or support service such as a maternal child health nurse and we take great pride in complementing their programs that place the child at the centre of their approach. These professionals are skilled advocates and value our service enormously.
Over recent years, Melbourne has become home for many refugees and asylum seekers who arrive with nothing. AMES, Dandenong City Council, Spectrum, South East Links, IPC are all agencies who collectively have supported hundreds of new families arriving into Melbourne and regional Victoria.
Last year, 4,579 newly arrived children were supported by St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums. Many of these orders included 10 or more items and would cost $800 - $1200 to purchase as new for these families. Things like nappies, wipes, bottles, a safe place to sleep, warm clothes, bed linen, car seats, books, toys and prams are all provided along with the gamechanger – the pram.
And it was all thanks to people like you. Your ongoing support is so important. Whether you donate goods, donate money or donate your time to volunteer, your generosity means we can continue to help give babies the best start in life.
From us all at St Kilda, Geelong and Eureka Mums, thank you so much for your incredible support.
Warm regards,
Tamara Maddrell
Senior Outbound Operations & Networks Manager
Dear community!
Welcome to the July edition of our newsletter where we are proud to share the impact of your support over the last financial year.
As you will be aware, we changed our service delivery model in Ballarat and the surrounding region about a year ago. Goods are now delivered directly to social workers by our partner Victorian Freight Specialists - saving precious time for the amazing social workers that support families in your local community.
With the commitment of our partners who have worked closely with us to ensure a smooth transition to this new service model and especially thanks to your ongoing generosity, both with donations of preloved items and financial support, Eureka Mums has been able to positively impact more than 2000 babies and children in and around Ballarat.
This is an amazing 46% increase on last year, which speaks to both the growth in demand and the success of the changes we have made.
Despite the difficult decision to close our warehouse in Sebastopol, we have been supported so brilliantly by the community, and as a result are proud to share this incredible growth.
Thank you to all of our supporters, donors, social workers, maternal child health nurses and their respective agencies for continuing to engage us and for the valuable support you all provide to local kids.
From raising funds to receiving your gently loved baby goods and turning them into gifts for vulnerable Victorian babies and children, there are many moving parts to our organisation. When we look at the numbers and understand the sheer scale and reach of our service across Victoria, it paints a powerful picture of the difference you make by supporting and enabling our work.
Each year we produce this detailed 'impact tree', which shows key measures of the difference you make. The tree shows the collective impact of St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums - we are one organisation, with the goal of reaching every Victorian child up to the age of six who needs our help. Please click on the image to take a closer look.
For many families, it’s incredibly hard to face a winter without the essentials needed for their babies and children. With the rising cost of living, it is difficult for many of us to make ends meet. This is compounded when you are not securely housed, perhaps don't have access to medicare or have children suddenly placed in your care. This is where, with our community's support - you - we can ensure that kids have everything they need for winter.
We love receiving messages of thanks from the professionals who work with families we’ve helped such as this one....
'Jane' has just very recently been given care of her 4 grandchildren. She is 64 and has health issues of her own. One of the children has a severe form of autism and so is not easy to look after and has many hospital appointments and medications. Living on her pension was hard enough but now things are very tight. The ability to have provided her with clothes, shoes, books and toys for the children has been incredible and has taken a huge weight off her mind. She was extremely grateful and had not known there were services like Eureka Mums out there to help people.
- Karen, Emergency Relief Coordinator, Uniting
Our partnership with the Ballarat Specialist School continues this term.
Every Monday between 9.30am to 2.30pm a member of our staff will be on site to collect donations of great quality baby essentials for us to rehome.
Ballarat Specialist School
Farm/Senior Campus, 800 Norman Street, Invermay Park, VIC 3350
We would love you to help us collect these essential items.
Thank you so much for your incredible support, from myself and all the team at St Kilda, Geelong & Eureka Mums.
Warm Regards
Ruth Holdaway MBE
Chief Executive Officer
We are delighted to announce Ms Ruth Holdaway MBE has been appointed as CEO of Eureka Mums, St Kilda Mums and Geelong Mums (St Kilda Mums Inc.). Ruth will lead the organisation in its 13th year of operation, following the departure of founding CEO Jessica Macpherson OAM.
Ruth is from the UK and has been in Australia for two years. As CEO of Tennis Victoria, Ruth grew the sport and led the statewide volunteer workforce through the challenges of the pandemic. Prior to this, she was CEO of Women in Sport, the UK’s leading charity transforming sport for the benefit of every woman and girl. Ruth was awarded the MBE (the UK equivalent of the OAM) for her services to gender equality in sport.
St Kilda Mums Inc. Board Chair and Interim CEO Deidre Mackechnie, said "Ruth’s appointment follows a highly competitive recruitment process. I am confident that she will bring relevant experience to lead us through our next period of growth and help achieve our aim to reach every baby in need in every town across Victoria".
Ruth commenced in the role on Monday 28 June.
Hi,
I know the latest lockdown was challenging for so many so I do hope you’re staying safe and well. I’m pleased to say that we have stayed open again to support families and are incredibly busy despite a week without goods donations being dropped off and not having our incredible volunteers onsite.
There have been lots of highlights over the last couple of months, including -
On another exciting note, Giving Day is also just around the corner on Wednesday 16 June. Please keep an eye out for updates and #givesharecare what you can!
Thank you for everything you do for Eureka Mums! We often hear about the immediate impact the many items you help provide to families has on families in need. Cots, prams, car seats and clothing bundles aren't just a mode of transport or a nice outfit for families. They provide so much more - freedom, warmth, safety and opportunity.
I hope you enjoy reading some of the exciting updates happening at Eureka Mums.
Warm regards,
Trinsa
Trinsa Lewis
Operations Manager
trinsa@eurekamums.org
It’s that special time of year again… Giving Day is almost here. Just one week to go.
Last year, an incredible $19,000 was donated from the community on the day. We were blown away by this support and then able to quadruple it thanks to our generous matched donor partners. Because of all these generous donations, we’ve been able to help 1,488 babies and children across 599 families in Victoria.
We’re pleased to confirm that we will be quadrupling donations again this year and would love to raise just a little bit more than last year to ensure that we can help thousands more families with no other way of providing for their children.
This is why we need you - our loving community to Give, Share and Care this Giving Day.
At the end of April we celebrated the opening of our newly expanded warehouse. There were so many special guests including Dannii Minogue and Gorgi Coghlan who joined us in cutting the ribbon.
Sarah (pictured below) also made a very special guest appearance and spoke about her experience as a recipient of our service. She fled domestic violence in QLD and found sanctuary in Ballarat with her children last year. It’s hard to imagine leaving everyone you know and your support network behind but for many it’s the only way to live without fear. Sarah reminded us not to be afraid to ask for help and also about how powerful and life changing our service is.
Thank you for making this warehouse expansion and our service possible. This space will allow us to help more babies and children than ever before.
Our Make a Mother's Day campaign was a huge success again this year. Almost 100 mums were able to wake up on Mother's Day and receive a gift from their children that they may not have otherwise received. The joy a child experiences from being able to give their mum a special gift is one that makes memories for a lifetime.
Toiletries may not seem like the most exciting gift to those of us in a more fortunate position, but to the Mums who often sacrifice these kinds of personal items to ensure there is food on the table and heat in the house, it can mean the world.
As a bonus, this year $1,324 was donated by the community. We love the way our supporters get behind this event every year, and supports us by running collection drives, making up toiletry bags, and donating to this cause.
Thank you to all our volunteers who put together some of the wonderful toiletry packs that went out this year.
From time to time we receive lovely stories from the people we are helping. We love hearing how the work that we do impacts a family!
Here are a few examples from the last few months.
"Just wanted to let you know that my client was incredibly overwhelmed with Eureka Mums' generosity and the trouble you went to, to tailor the packages for them. It has been incredibly difficult living in a small motel room with no transport, a 3 year old and an autistic 12 year old so having the activities, toiletries etc. makes a huge difference."
“The father was overcome with emotions when we delivered the items! He wanted me to pass on a big thank you to you all! Being able to provide him with these essential items is extremely beneficial for this family!”
"I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the wonderful things you guys have recently given to my children. You have given them so much happiness in a time of sadness and uncertainty. Thank you for the toys and most definitely the warm clothes and shoes. You guys are amazing. Thank you so very much"
Goods donations are now being accepted via the door located on Gray St. We are still only accepting donations on a Monday and Wednesday morning and require you to book in for a drop off time.
Celebrating Volunteer Week is very important to Eureka Mums. It’s our small way of saying a very big, heartfelt thank you for all that our volunteers do, each and every week.
Our organisation couldn’t do what it does without them. A shared lunch was enjoyed each day by all who attended, with 2 volunteers taking away a prize from our raffle each day. Prizes were generously donated by local businesses Billy G, Ivy & Coco, and Artbrush by Erin.
Kyra, Jodie, and Beck represented Eureka Mums (and thoroughly enjoyed) the morning tea hosted by The Ballarat Foundation, to say thanks to those who volunteer across Ballarat’s various volunteer run organisations.
If you are interested in volunteering we are pleased to say that we are now accepting new volunteers. Please register via our website and we will be in contact with you to give you more details and let you know of our induction dates.
This winter we will be able to continue with our Coats for Kids drive at Eureka Mums. We are collecting warm winter coats, jumpers and jeans in excellent condition.
A donation drive for essential winter items is a great way to get your local community involved. If you would like to collect winter coats with your school, kinder, workplace or other community group please email us: donate@eurekamums.org
Last month, in celebration of Mother’s Day, Koonara Coonawarra Wines held a beautiful ‘Ladies by the Lake’ event. We want to thank the team at Koonara Coonawarra Wines for such a fantastic event. The night was a huge success and raised $1,000 which was donated generously to Eureka Mums!
Thank you to everyone who completed our latest survey earlier this year. As a valued supporter of Eureka Mums, your feedback is very important to us.
We received some lovely messages of support in our surveys, and here is one I’d like to share with you:
“On behalf of the clients l support l would like this opportunity to thank you Eureka Mums for the much needed and loved items of clothing to the prams and toys you have provided for the most vulnerable children and their families in our community.
The kindergarten support program we facilitate were grateful for the kindergarten backpacks that we handed out at the start of the school term in 2021 and these were received by our families with much gratitude as this is what inclusion looks like when you commence on your 1st day of kindergarten.
The items you provide are always beautifully packaged, and the quality and diversity of items brings joy and thanks from our families. When the winter climate hits in cold old Ballarat, the donation of warm clothing from hand knitted jumpers made with love to warm coats is imperative for a young child attending kindergarten or school. Cannot thank you enough as Eureka Mums always helps when needed. Appreciate everything you do!”
Over the last few months, with your support, we have continued to provide essential nursery equipment to thousands of families in need. We’ve also had quite a few people reaching out to share their Eureka Mums story with us.
Every story we hear brightens our day. So now it's your turn....
There are no rules or requirements. You’re very welcome to share your name with us or remain anonymous.
If you’re not sure where to begin, here are some questions to consider when telling your story:
St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums will farewell their CEO Jessica Macpherson OAM next month.
Jessie has resigned as CEO and will be stepping down, twelve years after starting St Kilda Mums in the photocopier room at her local maternal health centre.
St Kilda Mums Inc. Board Chair Deidre Mackechnie said Jessie’s tenacity, passion and energy are behind the extraordinary growth and impact of St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums, and that she will be greatly missed.
“Jessie has grown the 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 Victoria,” she said.
Under Jessie’s leadership St Kilda Mums is now powered by a small staff team and more than 3,000 volunteers, and has warehouses in Clayton, Geelong and Ballarat.
Across 12 years it has supported more than 138,814 babies and children and saved more than 342,870 prams, cots and other essential items from landfill.
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.
“We are extremely grateful to Jessie for her incredible leadership across 12 years, the past seven as CEO, but understand that the time is right for Jessie to take on her next challenge,” Deidre said.
Jessie said it had been an honour to lead the organisation as founder, volunteer and CEO.
“Twelve years ago when St Kilda Mums began, three things struck me: waste, need and opportunity. From our first working bee to the network of sister organisations across Australia and the hundreds of thousands of babies and children supported in that time, the vision of a kinder fairer future has driven me,” Jessie said.
“It’s been an absolute honour to work with such a community of amazing staff, volunteers, donors and supporters and I am so proud to have made these achievements with them.
“From the beginning this organisation has been driven by volunteers, as it was volunteers in Geelong and Ballarat who drove the creation of Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums. Some 80 percent of our staff today joined us first as volunteers, and they like many others, secured their jobs, through the skills and experiences they learnt through volunteering.”
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 St Kilda Mums’ rapid growth and she plans to use it to help other organisations with their digital transformations.
“St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums will always hold a special place for me. I look forward to seeing the organisation continue to grow and strive for a future where we share more, waste less and care for every child.”
Jessie’s last day as CEO will be Wednesday 31 March 2021. The St Kilda Mums Inc. Board will now turn its attention to working through a comprehensive recruitment process for its new CEO and will provide an update in due course.
Read more about Jessica here:
https://www.stkildamums.org/pages/our-story
https://www.stkildamums.org/blogs/news/how-i-lead-jessica-macpherson-st-kilda-mums
]]>FAMILY support service Eureka Mums hope to open their larger Sebastopol premises in the coming weeks.
Still at the same location, operations manager, Trinsa Lewis said previous neighbouring tenants at the front of the building have moved, so her team has gained access, spreading out Eureka Mums’ operations.
“It’s been really helpful, because we were squashed in our area for quite a while,” she said.
“It means we’ll be able to have more volunteers. Over the last 12 months, we had to restrict our volunteer numbers in the building just so we could properly socially distance ourselves.
“It will allow us to take more donations. We’ll be able to process more donated items, and hopefully help more families this way.”
Once open, volunteers will still be taking bookings for donation drop-off times, however the on-site processes are changing.
“This time, you’ll be coming in the front of the building, not around the side. We’re changing the gate,” Ms Lewis said.
“We really appreciate the way people have easily embraced the idea of booking in for drop-off. It works for us all.”
Cots are always in high demand, alongside good quality, clean clothing that you would be “willing to give onto your best friend’s children.”
“Larger sizes, up to a children’s 16, we are desperate for all the time. That size usually fits a 12-year-old,” she said.
Volunteers are currently organising the new space, but working limited hours, so may not respond to email correspondence quickly.
They encourage those willing to donate to keep an eye on the website and social media for updates, and the optimum times to make contact.
In the weeks after their relaunch, Eureka Mums may also be on the lookout for more volunteers.
Visit facebook.com/EurekaMums and eurekamums.org.
]]>We all hope in a time of crisis that our loved ones will be there to embrace and support us. Sadly some families just don’t have that option. We received a sad but heartwarming note from one of our financial supporters who chose to remain anonymous recently.
“I know first hand what it is like to be abused, grow up experiencing domestic violence, be poor, no clothes, no food, no home, no car, feeling like I'll never be good enough, feeling like my life will never change. It's the small support I was given by strangers that turned my life around. I've been through a lot myself but I just love helping others. I am living proof that positive change is possible. I want to help others see that they can do whatever they want, and to never give up no matter how hard it might seem”.
The small support given by strangers is what Eureka Mums is all about. But the remarkable thing about our community is that no one ever feels like a stranger. From our volunteers and staff to our goods and financial donors. And every other person in between that plays a special part in providing safety, opportunity and dignity for children and families in Victoria.
You’re the reason we kept our doors open most days during the pandemic.
The overwhelming requests for support kept coming in. But so did your posted goods, your financial donations, your kind words and your genuine care for the babies and children who needed us. Thank you so much for continuing to step in and help when families have nowhere else to turn.
Although this year has been incredibly challenging, I’ll look back on it as one of the best as Operations Manager of Eureka Mums. And it’s all because of you.
Please enjoy our last newsletter for 2020. From our Eureka Mums family to yours, wishing you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Warm regards,
Trinsa
We are now CLOSED for goods donations for 2020.
We will spend the remainder of the year preparing the items that have been generously donated over the past few weeks into parcels of love. These will be distributed via social workers to families prior to Christmas.
Our doors are closing on Wednesday 23 December so we can recharge our batteries after a long and bizarre year. We will be returning refreshed and ready to accept goods donations from 13 January, via our booking system.
Since the start of the year, your support has enabled us to fill 683 requests for nursery equipment and children’s clothing, with a second-hand value of $456,016 to 1,713 babies and children.
This includes:
This month we say thank you and farewell to Stacey Barrass who has served on our board for the last five years. Stacey offered an important point of view for our board from the perspective that many of the families we serve share - that of domestic and financial abuse.
In the time that Stacey has been a board director she has overseen the expansion in Vale Street and the move to Clayton for our St Kilda Mums team, and the number of babies and children we help each year has grown from 3,000 year to over 20,000 a year.
If you would like to learn more about the special group of volunteers who make up the board and sub-committees across our three branches, please read on.
That’s the theme of our Christmas appeal, raising the funds we need to help families over the summer months.
Donations help cover the cost of supporting families at our busiest time of year and mean we can purchase extra nursery equipment as orders for vulnerable families continue to flood in the closer we get to Christmas.
Please can we ask you to share the appeal and should you or someone you know be in search of Christmas gift ideas, we now have a Christmas gift page, which provides you with a lovely opportunity to make a gift in lieu of a present for a loved one.
Once again we will be offering families our “Tools for Schools” packs. These packs contain some of the essential items to help ease the financial strain at the start of the year.
We will be accepting donations of new school items in January to make up these bundles.
A ‘Tools for School’ bundle provides students with the opportunity to start the school year on an even par with their peers, as much as possible. I once overheard two Prep students say “oh, we have the same lunch box, we must be friends”. The ability for students to connect over an item as simple as a lunch box makes the transition to school a lot easier.
A ‘Tools for School’ bundle contains the following items, depending on the age of the child. We offer them for Kinder, Primary and High School.
In October, a young single mum and her infant fell victim to a house fire. She lost most of their belongings and found herself without the basic items to keep her child safe and protected.
Eureka Mums was contacted by their child care centre and stepped in to provide them with over $1000 worth of items including a cot and blankets, clothing, toiletries, high chair and toys for her one year old. The young mum was overwhelmed by the support given to her at the time.
Hi,
We are still operating in our three locations, Ballarat, Melbourne and Geelong as an essential community service.
The challenges are huge, as once again we are closed to our amazing volunteers, and generous goods donors. Thankfully, we can still receive donations via post and courier. We’ve never been more excited to see the postie turn up at the warehouse!
Social workers, midwives and Maternal and Child Health Nurses have even more challenges, navigating restrictions and balancing the needs of the families they support within their own COVID-19 Safe Plans.
The families you support live with significant barriers that cut them off from support and their community. For many families, the closure of Op Shops and the reduction of items in local stores have meant that they need to rely on services like Eureka Mums to be able to clothe their children.
Since 1 July 2020, because of the kindness of you and our amazing community, 320 babies and children received essential nursery equipment. Anything from a pram to enable a family to leave the house. To a cot, mattress and linen to ensure a baby has somewhere warm and safe to sleep.
The generosity we have seen from our community has been nothing short of incredible.
Thank you just doesn’t feel like enough right now. We will forever be grateful to every single person who continues to support us and our vision of a world where no baby misses out on essential nursery equipment. You are helping to keep the warehouse doors open so we can provide support to babies and children in their time of need.
I saw this recently on social media and in case you haven’t seen it, I wanted to share it with you.
What if 2020 isn’t cancelled?
What if 2020 is the year we’ve been waiting for?
A year so uncomfortable, so painful, so scary, so raw, that it finally forces us to grow.
A year that screams so loud, finally awakening us from our ignorant slumber.
A year we finally accept the need for change.
Declare change. Work for change. Become the change.
A year we finally band together, instead of pushing each other further apart.
2020 isn’t cancelled, but rather the most important year of them all.
Leslie Dwight
I’m so thankful that our community has been part of the change for many years now. At a time when we’re being called on more than ever before, thank you for everything you do for Eureka Mums. Let’s continue, together, in 2020 and for many years to come.
Take good care of yourself and your loved ones.
Warm regards,
Trinsa
Trinsa Lewis
Operations Manager
trinsa@eurekamums.org
We are so grateful for the way you all assisted us with the introduction of the donation drop off booking system when restrictions were temporarily lifted. This enabled us to receive much needed items and keep everyone at a safe distance. As soon as we are allowed to go back to this process we will let you know so that we can continue to spread the love and joy of parenthood.
While we are not accepting preloved donations at this time, if you have items that can be ordered online and directly posted to our warehouse, we would be so grateful if you could use this option. Our most needed list of essential items is being posted on our social media channels weekly.
Our address is:
Eureka Mums
PO Box 5535
Redan VIC 3350.
Eureka Mums, St Kilda Mums and Geelong Mums assisted 20,004 children from 7,566 families throughout Victoria in the last financial year.
In our little part of the world, Eureka Mums supported 1,929 children from 737 families.
With your help, this included:
And thousands more items… a total of 4,417 items in fact.
Thank you so much for everything you’ve done to contribute to this impact.
There can be so many feelings associated with making a donation to Eureka Mums. Joy that there is room in the house or garage where the items have been, reflection on the memories that were created while using the items, even pride that the items are going to help another family. One of the most common feelings associated with making a donation is sadness in the closing of a chapter in the family's story. As pointed out by this beautiful donor below, it’s a reminder that the donation is the start of a chapter for a new family.
"Our family is so happy that the things we passed onto you today will help raise some other precious little ones as they have ours!"
These lovely words came from a kind donor who dropped off a pram, carseats and bassinet. They mentioned that although they were sad about passing on the bassinet because of beautiful memories, their son encouraged it saying that "it looked after four amazing little people and now it gets to do it again."
Thank you to everyone supporting our biggest Giving Day ever on 17 June. Nearly $350,000 was donated across our three branches. With all donations quadrupled by generous matchers, that’s an incredible $1.4 million. It was heartwarming to see all of the different ways that our community give, share and care for Eureka Mums.
We were overwhelmed by the amazing support we received this year. The team was in tears when we met our target of $32,000 in just under 2 hours, never have we seen the generosity flow so quickly. To then finish the day with an amazing $74,780 from our matchers and community was the ending of a perfect day.
Since 1 July, 320 babies and children have received essential nursery equipment. This money will ensure that we can support every family who turns to us between now and Christmas time.
Jen has been volunteering with Eureka Mums for just over 12 months. Her experience working in op shops meant she stepped into the role of a sorter very quickly. She has since mastered the art of bundling clothing.
Why did you start volunteering with Eureka Mums?
I was interviewed by a very gentle kind person and could see staff and volunteers were enjoying their work and volunteering time. As I value families being supported by local communities in a relaxed and special way I thought I would find Eureka Mums a happy place to be engaged with staff and volunteers. This has definitely been the case.
How did you find out about Eureka Mums?
I had heard about Eureka Mums from the owners of the building.
Favourite Food?
In my younger years I spent time in Thailand and enjoyed Kuai-Tiago. A chargrilled hawkers noodle dish with a variety of toppings.
Favourite Book?
Love Letter from my Father.
Favourite Movie?
Babe and Charlotte’s Web.
Favourite Guilty Pleasure?
Red wine and cheese followed by coffee and baked cheesecake
Dream Holiday Destination?
Nordic cruise followed by Camino de Santiago
With restrictions in place in Victoria, metro retailers have closed their doors and many regional stores are being severely impacted due to the lack of tourists. You can support them AND help a struggling family by placing an online order for needed items and shipping it to Eureka Mums.
We'll make sure it's quickly distributed right where it's needed most.
We are low in stock on almost everything right now. Please check our website for items we can and can't rehome.
Hi
What an interesting time we have all been living in over these last few months. We’ve all experienced something both traumatic and unifying over this time. We’ve seen many heartbreaking stories, particularly from overseas, and we’ve united as a community and as a country in a way never seen before to ensure that the story of the United States, of Britain, of Italy, did not become our story.
We have all had to quickly adapt and our busy lives have given way to a slower pace, although with added challenges of working and schooling from home. I find it quite poignant to think that this is a period of history that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be learning about at school in years to come.
As a community we have all ‘been in this together’ and that has never been more evident by us here at Eureka Mums. The way the community has continued to support us and therefore those who are most vulnerable in our region has been so inspiring. I am delighted to let you know that we have now reopened for volunteers and goods donations after ten weeks, and we did not have to suspend our service for even one day.
Finally, our Giving Day is just around the corner on 17 June and I ask you to please #givesharecare on this day. Donate what you can, share our posts and let us know why you care about Eureka Mums.
It feels like such a long time since we’ve been able to accept beautiful preloved goods from the community. With government restrictions easing this week, we can welcome a small number of donations back into the warehouse.
If you’re thinking about dropping donations in, please read the details below very carefully to consider the best method for you.
Drop off - Strictly by pre booking only
If you have items that are on our most needed list, you can book in to drop off to our warehouse. Please email us with a list of what you have to donate and we can send the link to book through our online booking system. The booking time is important as we are open to social workers as well and need to ensure that we are able to keep everyone safe and maintain social distancing.
Australia Post
If you have items that can be posted or ordered online, we would be so grateful if you could use this option. Our address is: Eureka Mums, 15A Gray St Sebastopol VIC 3356
We are in desperate need of the specific items below and these donated items must be our priority. We are going to ask all our fabulous supporters to be very considerate in the content and quality of their donations and to please hang onto any other donations that aren’t on the list below.
If you have any questions about what you can and can't donate, please first go to our website and then please email us. We are very happy to answer your questions.
Throughout this hectic time, we are so thankful that we've been able to remain open. We are in awe of the efforts of the support workers who have continued to collect goods from us and distribute them to local families doing it tough. We have adjusted by setting up a contactless service at the warehouse. Pre packed orders in trolleys are being wheeled out to social worker’s cars and loaded by staff, all an example of the efforts to minimise risk. This has meant that families in need have still been able to access urgent items during this crisis.
Unfortunately we've been operating without our amazing team of volunteers and we just wanted to take this opportunity to thank them for all of the hard work they put in prior to COVID-19. Without their incredible efforts, our stock levels just would not have been able to sustain us over the last few months!
In just two months, we distributed 762 items with a preloved value of $74,688 to support 112 families with 252 children. Such an incredible effort.
The families we support have faced many challenges with increased complexity over this time. From nappies and soap being out of stock at the supermarket to limited or no face to face outreach contact from their caseworkers. Supporting children to learn from home was challenging for most but has been especially challenging for new arrivals when English is not their first language.
Many families have not been eligible for any government payments and navigating changes of Centrelink support always creates opportunities for families who may fall through the cracks.
The response from our community has literally been life saving. When we closed our doors to goods donation in March, much of our stock in the warehouse came close to running out quickly. With funds donated, we have been able to purchase wholesale cots, prams and car seats. Brand new clothing, toiletries and linen has arrived in the post so that families still have what they need to welcome their babies home. Without donations from the times pre-COVID and a top up of generous online donations of brand new goods, this level of support just wouldn't have been possible. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
We received this lovely message from an Enhanced Maternal Child Health Nurse that recently asked for support for a mum and her newborn.
“Recently on a home visit to a new mum who had been placed in emergency housing, I was able to supply her with nappies, wipes, steriliser and beanies supplied by the lovely people at Eureka Mums. My request was filled quickly. It's hard enough for a first time mum to organise a visit to the shops in the first few weeks being home from hospital but add the difficulty of being on her own and with all the fear associated with the COVID -19, these few items helped her to feel better about the safety of her young child.”
In the week beginning Monday 19 May, we celebrated National Volunteer Week. We are so lucky to have such wonderful volunteers that continue to support us, even when they haven’t been able to attend our warehouse.
During the week of social media celebration, we shared profiles of some of our wonderful volunteers on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
Please read below about Grace who volunteers with us.
Why did you start volunteering with Eureka Mums?
Because I found I had some spare time and wanted to give back in a productive way. I had also heard great things about Eureka Mums and wanted to find out more!
How did you find out about Eureka Mums?
My mum works in a similar field and has always had great experiences with Eureka Mums. I had also heard about St Kilda Mums through social media and wondered if there was something alike in my area.
Favourite memory at Eureka Mums?
Coming in on one of my first days and being so welcomed by everyone.
Giving Day is almost here! Only one week to go. Last year, an incredible $25,170 was donated by our generous community. With those funds, we’ve been able to support thousands of families through some very difficult times.
This year, we need to raise the same amount again to ensure every baby and child has the essential nursery equipment they need. We know it's an ambitious goal but we truly believe it's achievable when you, our incredible supporters stand beside us on the day.
Every financial donation will be quadrupled. Please give what you can, share our posts with your network and show how much you care for those in need.
We would really love to shine a spotlight on our beautiful community of supporters during Giving Day. If you’re interested in recording a short video about how you give, share and care about Eureka Mums, please email our Fundraising Manager Rochelle and she will send you some more information.
Finally, I’d like to say a very big thank you to each and every one of you for your unwavering support, especially over the last three months. COVID-19 has thrown each of us many curveballs, we have all reacted differently to the way that it has affected us. The families we support have been affected more than most. But we have been able to continue to support them in the best way we could because of you.
To our wonderful community - thank you for not forgetting about them and for continuing to share our vision where we waste less, share more and care for every child.
Much love,
Trinsa
Trinsa Lewis
Operations Manager
trinsa@eurekamums.org
Regretfully, the St Kilda Mums Inc board and I have made the decision to stay closed for goods donations until further notice. Following the government's advice to strictly limit travel outside the home, and for the safety of our staff, this measure is unavoidable at this time. As an organisation our staff are still working hard to help families in need access vital nursery equipment and other necessary items. Thanks for sticking with us.
Please see our FAQs about what this means for you.
Jessica Macpherson OAM
In light of developments this weekend, we have made the difficult decision to close our warehouse for volunteering and goods donations, pending further guidance. We are awaiting further information about what constitutes an ‘essential service’. Our hope is that we can continue to serve vulnerable families during this time.
In the meantime, we have been directed by our Board to close the warehouse to all volunteers and to all members of the community wishing to drop off items.
Our Board will meet again on the evening of Monday 23 March. We hope we will have more information from the Government at that point to inform us about our ability to keep serving social workers and maternal health nurses.
Please keep checking our website, our Facebook and Instagram, and your emails for further updates from us.
This is a very challenging time for us all. We are so worried about the families who need our help. Please stick with us during this time.
Thank you for everything you do for Eureka Mums. We are thinking of all of you, and we will be in touch again soon.
Jessica Macpherson OAM, CEO
Eureka Mums
What matters right now is that we prioritise health, flatten the curve and play our part by paying attention to the updates and recommendations of our government and local authorities. We are using the Department of Health as our main source of guidance, and we suggest this as a good place to start if you're unsure about where to look.
At Eureka Mums we are assessing the situation on a daily basis. Our organisation is based in Ballarat, Clayton and Geelong and we work with a vast and varied network of donors, volunteers, social service agencies, hospitals and suppliers across the state.
We are considering a range of options that would allow us to operate a reduced service. At the time of sending this, we are continuing to provide our service to help families in need. We are constantly considering all of the different ways we may be able to deliver our service, knowing our operations are likely to change in light of changing circumstances for volunteers, staff and donors.
We have already seen a decline in the number of regular volunteers attending the warehouse, as they navigate an ever-changing landscape for their own work and home lives.
Less and less people are dropping by with their donations.
We ask that you continue to refer to our Facebook, Instagram and website for updates on our operations.
We only know one thing for sure. That the families we help are already some of the most vulnerable people in our community.
Many of the families we help are adrift, moving from couch to couch or desperately waiting for their spot in transitional or commission housing. How will they effectively self-isolate?
There are those who need our help because they are already suffering from acute health conditions, unable to work.
And it will come as no surprise that single-parent, single-income families are vastly overrepresented amongst those we help. What will happen if they can no longer go to work?
There is no doubt that the poor and vulnerable in our community will feel the effects of this crisis the most.
And I won’t lie, we are worried. Because while the need for our support will grow over the coming weeks and months, our capacity to help will reduce.
We, like any organisation, are facing significant challenges to our resourcing and income.
So, please stick with us. We need you.
Please drop off your donations while you can. It is critical that you check our website and Facebook page before you visit to make sure we are open and able to accept your donation. Please do not visit if you are unwell or are in a period of isolation after overseas travel.
And please, please if you can, consider making a financial gift to us at this time. We need to pay the rent on our warehouse, we need to pay our staff, and we need to pay our bills. It is also highly likely that, as donations drop off, we will need to purchase more stock to help families.
We do not have government funding and we are already experiencing damage to our fundraising income as a result of this health crisis.
There are 37 families on our waitlist right now. Where will they go if we don’t help them?
Please donate here if you can. Every dollar helps right now.
Thank you, we will keep you updated and we will keep helping those who need help. Please take good care of yourselves during this time.
Trinsa Lewis
Operations Manager
Now local manufacturers are pledging to do something about their waste problem.
After arriving back home in Melbourne, new parents Claire George and Nick Hamond have just started the search for a baby seat for their 4-month-old Remy.
"We've been lucky enough not to need one until now because we had friends overseas who lent us their car seat," Ms George said.
"We love to reuse things."
Yet despite being conscious about sustainability, the couple does not know what will happen to Remy's new car seat when he grows out of it.
"I know it's probably not a good thing," Ms George said.
About 1.2 million baby car seats, capsules and boosters are sold new in Australia every year.
The products do not have a long lifespan, due to product safety recommendations that they should only be used for 10 years.
Melbourne baby store retailer Michael Milun said many parents want to buy them brand new and that babies usually got through many different types of seats in their first five years of life.
"And you'll get people buying a seat for both partners' cars, and the nanny, and the grandparents," Mr Milun said.
Yet despite this, there is no centralised recycling scheme for the seats in Australia.
As a result, 200,000 a year wind up in landfill.
And this waste stream problem is not just unsustainable. Charities also are overloaded with the burden of disposing of old and broken car seats that well-meaning people donate to them.
Melbourne charity St Kilda Mums (which includes Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums) receives at least 1,000 baby seats that it cannot use every year.
"I feel terrible about the fact these items end up in landfill and take a long time to break down," its chief executive Jessie Macpherson said.
There are moves to create a central recycling program for baby car seats in Australia.
In November, the Federal Government announced that it wanted to add car seats to the Product Stewardship Act.
The Act included products like batteries, industrial oil and old televisions, and if implemented properly, commits manufacturers of certain products to do something about their products at their end of life.
The car seat industry's product stewardship listing is being led by a group of sustainability consultants who first got interested in this area of recycling them when they became young fathers.
In 2017, Equilibrium ran a trial program across Australia that saw people drop off almost 2,000 old baby car seats to collection depots across the country.
"We just couldn't find any way to recycle the baby seats," Equilibrium managing director Nick Harford said.
These seats were then broken apart and sent off to recyclers that Equilibrium had recruited.
"Eighty per cent of these seats are made from recyclables like plastic and metal," Mr Harford said.
"It was a revelation."
As of this week, Equilibrium has signed up all three major manufacturers of baby car seats in Australia to the next stage of its product stewardship scheme push.
Britax, Infasecure and Dorel make 80 per cent of seats sold in the local market, meaning this is a big step towards doing something about the problem.
"We are very supportive," Britax managing director Dirk Voller said.
"We feel this should not be limited to baby car seats and capsules but cover all product categories including wheel goods such as prams, strollers and other related nursery products."
Both Britax and Infasecure said that they were working on product design that made their car seats simpler to recycle as well.
Equilibrium's Mr Harford said the next step will be launching a wider version of its baby car seat recycling trial, with it hoping to be collecting and recycling about 50,000 baby car seats a year by 2023.
"We think parents will get involved in this," he said.
"Even now, two years after we finished our trial, we still get people calling us up asking them how they can drop off their old seats."
However, the recycling scheme will cost the industry money.
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Eureka Mums, St Kilda Mums and Geelong Mums are deeply shocked and saddened by the recent bushfires across Australia. We know many of you will want to help and we are sharing information here about how you can best support us and affected families at this time.
As first priority, we urge anyone who wants to support victims of the bushfires to make a monetary donation to the organisations currently on the front line. These are the Australian Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Vinnies, Foodbank Victoria and state-based fire brigades, such as the CFA.
These organisations have stressed that, at this time, the best way to support is with money. They're simply not in a position to manage the processing and logistics involved in distributing donated goods, and are best placed to use financial support to fund their critical emergency response efforts.
We will be ready in the coming weeks to start distributing items for the babies and children of affected families. This can only happen when access is possible and it’s safe to do so. We stress that this assistance will only be provided through orders from social workers and Maternal & Child Health Nurses, as per our normal service.
Like many community welfare organisations, we are currently operating on skeleton staff and volunteers over the Christmas and New Year period. We are limited in our capacity to accept and process donations of goods.
We will open our doors to receive donations again on Monday 13 January and we urge anyone who wishes to donate items to carefully check the list of items we can and can't rehome before dropping off. If you are unsure please email us. It’s more important than ever that we do not receive items we are unable to rehome, which slows us down and limits our capacity to help those in crisis.
Sister organisations who provide essential items for babies and children in other states, will also be helping families in the coming weeks - more information about their services can be found here.
Please contact our service team by email if you are a social service agency or Maternal & Child Health Nurse who requires baby or children’s items for a family in crisis.
Thank you for your support.
2 January 2020 Media Release print here. Image: 9 News
]]>It’s hard to believe that December has arrived, but here we are at end of the school year, planning of summer holidays, and getting ready for the Christmas and New Year period!
For many of us, this is our busiest time of year, and December is certainly a peak time at Eureka Mums as we race to help as many families as possible before 25 December.
We have now closed our doors for donations of goods (baby and children's items). We will take the next few days to sort through your donations and ensure we have fulfilled urgent requests from social workers and Maternal & Child Health Nurses. Our priority is to ensure that all children already born, or babies due before the end of January, have the items they need for a safe start in life.
In the 2018/19 financial year, your support enabled us to provide 4,385 items of nursery equipment and children’s clothing, with a second-hand value of $541,693, to 1,977 babies and children.
This includes:
Your generosity has continued to make a huge difference to families need as the year draws to an end, supporting almost 1,000 babies and children since July.
You can learn more about your impact in our 2018/19 annual report.
We were thrilled to be chosen as a charity partner for Run for a Cause this year. To have this support from the Ballarat Foundation and be represented alongside other charity partners who also focus on the wellbeing of children, was an honor.
To know that such a large portion of participants in the event chose us as their charity partner made us feel so special and appreciated. It’s donations and support like this that enable us to continue our work.
The event raised $4,756 for Eureka Mums, in addition to a $10,000 grant from the Ballarat Foundation to help us provide families with cots, prams and car seats.
Each year, with your support, we’re able to ease the cost of returning to school for families in need by providing our Tools for Schools bundles. We’re excited to deliver this program again in January 2020.
As well as removing some of the cost of school items, we can also remove some of the social anxiety experienced by children who don’t have the basic items they need for the school year.
Our Tools for School bundles include:
We will be accepting donations for our Tools for Schools bundles from Monday 13 January 2020. Thank you for your support.
This week our sister branch, St Kilda Mums, received a note from a mum along with her gift to our Christmas appeal. She donates throughout the year, as well giving a special toiletry bag to our annual One Mother to Another Mother’s Day campaign, but donating at Christmas time is especially important to her.
Why does she do this? Because eight years ago, someone like you decided to support our organisation, and in turn we were able to help this mum and her baby in a time of crisis.
The effect of that generosity, and knowing there was someone out there who cared for her and her baby, was so profound that she has chosen to give to us ever since. She tells us that every Christmas she wants to help another mother.
This mum had left a violent and abusive marriage. She was alone - her husband had discouraged any new friendships seeking to isolate and further control her. The violence increased during pregnancy, which is something that is all too common.
Once it became unbearable and once she realised that she could not protect her daughter from her husband’s rage - she took a brave step and asked for help from an ex-work colleague.
Together they planned her escape and she started over. St Kilda Mums provided a cot for her baby daughter, as well as clothing and other essentials. That Christmas, and every Christmas since, this mum has donated money to buy a new cot for another baby.
When she received our certificate of appreciation with her donation last week she told us ‘this is the best Christmas gift I received’, but really the gift is ours - we’re not sure we could receive a better gift than knowing this organisation has played some small role in transferring love from one mother to another.
We would like to acknowledge the contribution and support of two retiring board members, Linda Grace and Jesse Vincent.
Linda's volunteering began as a bundler and pro-bono legal adviser. After becoming a member of our fundraising sub committee in 2012, Linda joined our board in 2016 and became Chair in 2017. Linda is the mother of a young family and had her third child during her time with us.
Jesse started volunteering in early 2013 with impact reporting. She helped organise data and created meaningful reports; this work was the start of our annual 'what we rehome' impact tree. She joined our board as Treasurer in November 2014, helping us complete an audit with very little notice!
Both Linda and Jesse are an amazing inspiration to us - juggling motherhood, a busy job and giving back to the community.
If you want something done - ask a busy mum!
Linda has passed the baton onto Deidre Mackechnie as Chair, and Clementine Thompson has taken over from Jesse as our Treasurer.
Our board represents all three branches - St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums - and oversees governance, financial management and accountability, and policies and procedures. You can read more about the Board here.
Thank you Linda and Jesse for your incredible contribution to our organisation; you are a shining example of volunteer commitment and giving back.
Along with donations to our Christmas appeal, we have been receiving special messages of support for families in need. These beautiful notes never fail to move us as we write them onto a card to include with items for a family who are struggling this Christmas.
To be able to pass on your generosity and love to families in need is a privilege, and we are so grateful you share our belief that every family deserves a helping hand so they can enjoy the precious experience of raising children.
Rimy is currently studying for her Masters of Social Work at Federation Univerisity, and she has been on placement at Eureka Mums as an intern since September. Rimy has accepted and sorted donations from the community, made up many beautiful bundles of clothing and linen, and got orders ready for social workers and Maternal & Child Health Nurses to collect.
Rimy has also volunteered her time at the Brown Hill Market, Run for a Cause and also the collection of donations at church services. She does all this with a beautiful smile on her face! She is a wonderful example of the many ways people choose to support our service and the families we help.
It is with sadness that Eureka Mums has to say goodbye to Rimy - we wish her all the best with her future studies.
Thank you again all for everything you do to support us and the families we help. From the Eureka Mums family to yours - we would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.
Warm regards
From Trinsa, Felicity, Neisha and all the Eureka Mums Team.
Our annual report show how we are working for families in Ballarat and across Victoria as a branch of St Kilda Mums. They tell stories from the people we work with, highlight how we are meeting our strategic goals and offer an explanation of how we use the donations we receive. Our full financial statements are available on the ACNC website.
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Together we’ve had a very busy winter, supporting 287 babies and children from June to August. The essentials you help us provide make life easier for the families we help, reducing the stress and worry in their home, allowing for love and joy to shine. These are some of the items we gave to families this winter, made possible with your support:
In total, your help provided 1,215 items of essential nursery equipment and children’s clothing to families in need during winter - what a special gift during the tough cold months, thank you for achieving this with us.
We're very excited to introduce our new Operations Coordinator at Eureka Mums, Neisha Sargent. Neisha has joined us to look after the coordination of orders and the general running of our Sebastopol HQ. Neisha has a background in retail and, in particular, charity op shops.
Here’s a little Q&A to introduce Neisha:
How have you found your first month at Eureka Mums?
I’ve been so welcomed in my first month - by staff, volunteers and the social workers and Maternal & Child Health Nurses I’ve already met. I’m looking forward to helping Eureka Mums and our local community. It’s already helped my family by giving me more time with them.
What have you learnt about Eureka Mums that you didn’t know previously?
Since starting l’m more aware of the need for help across our community. The number and variety of cases we deal with is a real eye opener. The amazing bundles of love that our volunteers create with such care are awesome. It really makes me appreciate things more.
We are very, very excited to announce that we have been chosen as one of the charity partners for this year’s Ballarat Foundation Run For a Cause. This year's focus is on early childhood and school preparedness.
The event, supporting Eureka Mums and three other fantastic local charities, will be held on Sunday 17 November. It’s for everyone and every level of fitness! So why not give it a go?
Supporting us is as simple as selecting Eureka Mums as your charity of choice when you register and then getting your friends and family to sponsor you. Supporting us in this event will help raise the funds we really need to open our doors every day.
You’ll see us there on the day - cheering you on and spreading the word about Eureka Mums. So please be sure to say Hi and tag us on your social media #eurekamums.
Once again, you can register yourself or a team right here. Hope to see you there!
Do you have a little spare time in your week - even just a couple of hours - and think you might like to spend it doing something amazing for the community?
Look no further! Eureka Mums has lots of great volunteering opportunities that make a big difference to the families we help.
Whether you’d enjoy making beautiful clothing bundles, greeting and accepting items from our generous donors, getting handy and helping with cots and prams - or maybe you’re happy to try your hand at anything and would just enjoy the opportunity to meet new people, we are ready to welcome you!
We will be holding a Casual Volunteering session at the Eureka Mums Warehouse on Thursday 19 September from 10.00am - 12.00pm.
Please come along to find out more about what we do and how to volunteer.
Please email us to let us know if you're able to come along.
There are so many other ways you can assist us if you don’t have the time to volunteer or items to donate.
For the past few weeks we've been asking the community to support our real baby bundle appeal. A gift of $126 enables you to provide one baby or child with the items they need for a safe start - from a cot to a breast pump, and everything in between! Our goal is to raise enough from this appeal to provide a bundle of essential items to 20 babies and children.
The generous response we have received so far has given 4 children the essential nursery equipment and clothing they need, but we need to raise the funds to reach the rest of the babies and children who need our help.
If you can, please consider making a donation of $126, or an amount of your choice (every dollar counts!) using this page today. Thank you, however you can help will mean we can support the families who are added to our waitlist every single day.
In July 2019, after more than two and half years as Chair of the board for St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums, Linda Grace has stepped down to spend more time with her young family.
We're so thankful to Linda for her many years of volunteering. She first volunteered as a member of our Fundraising Subcommittee, back in 2012 before we had any employees. She has been instrumental in growing our fundraising capacity and, under her leadership and guidance, our annual impact has increased 20 fold.
The board elected Deidre Mackechnie to be our new Chairperson. Deidre first joined our board in 2017.
She has had an extensive career in health, initially training as a nurse which led to clinical education, followed by a move to human resources and subsequent roles in senior management. Deidre is the CEO at Multiple Sclerosis Australia. She has postgraduate qualifications in Education, Human Resource Management and Governance.
Welcome Deidre and thank you Linda!
We do not rehome portacots (also known as travel cots) and many people ask us why.
Portacots are wonderful for families that travel, or spend weekends in the country. Portable cots are intended for temporary use and are not suitable for long term sleeping arrangements.
There have been several sleeping accidents with infants in portacots, primarily caused by the addition of an extra mattress or bedding. The mattress of a portacot is very thin and firm, and it is tempting for parents to want to make it more comfortable for their baby. This puts the infant at great risk.
Social workers ask us for cots - not portacots - as a cot is a safe place for a baby to sleep dream and play for the first 3 years of his or her life. We work hard to rehome preloved cots that meet the household standard (we do not rehome childcare centre cots) and we fundraise to purchase new cots from our supplier who sells us new household standard cots at below cost.
For this reason we do not accept donations of portacots - there is simply no need for them, so we say no thank you to dozens of offers from generous families every week.
People often ask us what they should do with the portacot they no longer need and here are three great ideas:
If you have any other ideas we would love to hear them. Thank you for your support - we could not do it without you.
SIDS and Kids Safe Sleeping
Kids Safe NSW Portable Cot Safety
Baby's death leads to warnings over portacot mattresses
Product Safety Recalls Australia
Choice Magazine Portacots fail mandatory and voluntary standards
Portacots and pose suffocation and injury risks.
To mark their significant 10th anniversary, LOVE TO DREAM™ have donated half a million dollars’ worth of swaddles, sleep bags and sleep suits to St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums, Eureka Mums and other sister organisations around Australia.
After finding out that due to extreme poverty, as many as 1 in 6 families* can't afford to provide basic necessities for their babies, including warm clothing and sleep garments, founder and CEO of LOVE TO DREAM Hana, felt compelled to help.
Children comprise 24.3% of all people living in poverty in Greater Melbourne and the proportion is even higher in the regional areas, at 29.2%[ii].
Our founder and CEO Jessie said “Whenever we provide material aid to families it means that they are able to channel their finances to other necessities such as food and rent. This partnership with LOVE TO DREAM shows a vulnerable family that the community cares about them.”
Hana and the team at LOVE TO DREAM came up with the idea of donating the sleep garments after being made aware of the difficult circumstances that thousands of families face while trying to meet their basic needs. As Hana explains; “With this donation we hope to help ensure that families experiencing financial hardship are able to keep their babies warm this winter and to raise awareness of the important work done by our country’s incredible charities,”
"Making a difference and giving back is a core value of LOVE TO DREAM and this significant initiative is an extension of our wider commitment to social responsibility as we celebrate our 10-year anniversary."
“We feel grateful and fortunate to have been able to deliver our mission over the past 10 years to help babies and parents achieve safer, better, longer sleep.“
“Good sleep is critical to a family's mental and physical health and that is why it's so important to us to reach out and support these families in need. Sharing the love is one of the core values that has driven our company since day one and being able to help so many families is only possible with the direct action of 14 amazing charity partners. We’re so grateful to them for enabling this initiative."
St Kilda Mums is part of a network of sister organisations who have distributed more than $12 Million dollars worth of goods in the past 12 months. To find a complete list of sister organisations, please read this.
Adventure Park Geelong
MARS Confectionary Australia
McDonalds Ballarat
Melbourne Museums
PetStock Ballarat
Puffing Billy Railway
Showbiz Cinemas Ballarat
Zagames
Forge Pizzeria
Artbrush
Eureka Skydeck
Aradale Ghost Tours & Ballarat Ghost Tours
Tupperware - Felicity
Beechworth Bakery
Regent Cinemas Ballarat
Ballarat Oz Tenpin Bowling
Spot on Pots
Ballarat Aquatic Centre
Ballarat Wildlife Park
Bunnings Ballarat
Mia and Talbot
Fiona Smith
Luna Park
Pilates HQ
Shayne Reese Swimming
Mitchell Harris Wines
Tribe North Cafe
Griffin Burger
Irish Murphys Ballarat
Mount Buninyong Winery
Pranah Body and Beauty
Superpower Scents by Chloe - Independent Scentsy Consultant
Billy G
Crawfords Pharmacy
Arabella + Autumn
Lola & May
Night Eyes
Lark
Body Be Good
Rubilicious
121 Lash, Brow & Co
Hattie and the Wolf
Lux Nova Beauty
Karringtons Jewelers
Tilly and Mint
The Lakeview Hotel
Beauty Base by Carlee
Pretty In Bows
Boutique Beauty by Chloe
RADCentre
Red Door Rugs
Yvonne Davis
Phoenix Alternative
Happy Jacks
Winter Rose Boutique
Evolution Photography and Events
Cool Cuts for Kids
Oriana Wellness
Ishka
Coles - Little Bridge Street
Like Homewares
Wen & Ware
Coles - Stocklands
Plate Up Festival Ballarat 2019
Ardengower
The Yacht Club
Fringe by Paris
Fitted by Larnz
Musket & Bayonnet
Wild Bloom & Co
The Red Door Pizzeria
The Good Guys
Kelly Mini Sports
Goldfield Glamping
Ballarat Health Foods
Chocolate Shoppe
Kmart - Delacombe
Dominos
Craigs Royal Hotel
Cervus (John Deer)
Bunny Rug Bug
Purple Fox Designs
Belladaise Beauty
Robert and Althea Roberts
Zumba Ballarat
Ivy Hairdressing
Ballarat Permaculture Guild Inc
The Haymarket
Robert and Althea Roberts
Ballarat Pregnancy Massage
Avalon Nursery
We have finished adding up the impact of our donations to your families in the last financial year.
Over the past 12 months we have helped 35% more babies and children in Victoria than the previous year - from 13,510 to 18,535. This infograph breaks the impact down by branch and Eureka Mums is the dark blue piece of the pie.
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Not only did we hit our target of $20,000 for Eureka Mums in our #everybabyeverytown appeal on 5 June, we cruised right on past it, raising $23,125.
This is a truly amazing result, bringing us so much closer to helping more families in regional Victoria who need our help. So if you donated, shared our posts, spread the word, or cheered us on, THANKYOU!
Special thanks to our matchers - we couldn't have done it without you! StreetSmart Australia, Dr Patrick Moloney and The Johnstone Family Foundation.
Your generous donation will help Eureka Mums support even more babies and children over the next year. With your help, we can aim to ensure every baby and child in Victoria has access to our service, and every baby has the same safe start in life.
Your support means we can:
We thank you for sharing our belief that every baby deserves a safe start in life, every baby, in every town.
Your generosity and support drives everything we do at Eureka Mums. Your donations mean that together we can help many families enjoy the precious experience of early childhood, and give their children the safe start they deserve. Together, we can help every baby in every town in Victoria.
Thank you again for your support.
]]>You may be considering purchasing a second-hand cot. A friend might have offered you their pre-loved Moses basket. You may have seen a fantastic looking change table in the hard rubbish and wondered if it is safe to pick up.
When items are sold new, they come with loads of information about their safe use. Product manuals, assembly instructions, quick start guides, and a heap of infographical information or photographs that easily explain how to use the product safely.
But this packaging, and the instructions it came with, are often disposed of or lost, and without these the risk of improper use and child injury increases.
Australian Standards change over time and the second hand products may not meet the current standard and have all of the latest safety features.
If you are purchasing a second hand item online, you can’t physically see the product (only photos which can be hard to rely on) or handle it to see if it is in good condition, has all parts etc.
Some products come with instructions for safe use on the product itself. A sticker on the frame of your pram may have 5 bullet points about how to use the pram safely. A cot has a stamp on the base that advises what size mattress to buy.
But these can be peeled off or painted over.
Cots bolts, for example, are often misplaced when converting to a toddler bed. People donating their cots will often suggest that we could simply buy the missing bolt from a hardware store. If only it were so simple.
We have discovered over the years that many distributors and manufacturers of nursery products have ceased trading. It is therefore impossible to source replacement parts or a copy of the instructions for safe use for one of these items.
And what are the consequences of trying to put together a cot with generic bolts? There is a maximum $28,000 fine for the supply of an unsafe cot under consumer law in Victoria. This is why there are so few op shops selling cots these days.
But the risk to your child or someone else's is just too great.
This is why at Eureka Mums we only rehome cots from reputable distributors who offer after sales service and can supply replacement parts. We only rehome cots that are easy to assemble. The range of cots available for sale today is large. Our experience has helped us to recognise that certain styles of cots are safe, practical and fit for rehoming.
Everything we do is focused on the needs for the families we help and the social workers supporting them. That is why we recently updated our list of "what we can rehome" and removed wooden change tables, Moses baskets, cane baskets, rocking cradles and bassinets with lots of flounces.
The main reason that we have decided not to rehome wooden change tables is that so few of them actually meet the safety standard. They should have 3 sides at least 10 cm higher than the mat to prevent rolling over or wiggling upwards and falling from the top end. They should have a safety harness that secures over the child's tummy. Regrettably this standard is Voluntary not Mandatory - so many change tables don't meet this standard.
The second reason for not being able to rehome these change tables is that the families we help are usually living in refuges, transitional housing or homes with limited space. In such accommodation a portable folding change table or a change mat that can be stored under the couch or bed is a more universal solution - and safer.
We have a ton of ideas for what you can do with wooden change tables that we can’t rehome. Please visit our Pinterest page.
We do however happily rehome all folding change tables, change mats and their covers.
You might find this very difficult to believe but there is actually no Australian safety standard for bassinets. Neither mandatory nor voluntary.
What this means is that there is a large variety of products for sale and in use today, and we see them all - sometimes 30, 40 and 50 years old.
On the recommendations of our Every Baby Advisory Group, we do not rehome any of the following second hand items: Moses baskets, cane baskets, rocking cradles and bassinets with lots of flounces. This advisory group is made up of experts - Maternal and Child health nurses, social workers, midwives, homelessness specialists, product safety experts from Red Nose and Kidsafe, and experts in perinatal mental health.
Moses baskets can lose shape and become splayed with use and age, creating a gap between the mattress and the sides. This presents a suffocation hazard. Cane or wicker becomes brittle with age, breaks and poses a laceration hazard. Rocking cradles can tip, and bassinets with flounces lack breathability.
The best bassinets - the ones favoured by the experts - are these ones. They are mostly manufactured in the past 10 years and have breathable sides.
We love this particular model as it is so easy to remove the fabric and wash it - something we like to do with every donated bassinet.
If you have any questions about product safety please contact us and we will try and help you.
We love to share our knowledge, and by signing up to volunteer with us, not only can you learn a new skill, but you can help families in need. At Eureka Mums we are always looking for volunteers to help us with a variety of tasks from cleaning prams, to assembling cots, to packing beautiful clothing bags - there is a job for everyone. We also rely on the community for donations of preloved baby goods so that we can continue to help families in need. Signing up for our newsletter is a great way to keep in touch, see the impact of your support and know when we need your help. Thank you!
For more information:
Product Safety Australia (a division of the ACCC) - 1300 302 502
Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) Toy & Nursery Safety Line - 1300 364 894
Red Nose Foundation (formerly SIDS and Kids) in your state or territory - 1300 998 698
Check for product recalls
Choice Magazine How we test change tables
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Thank you to everyone that supported this campaign - over 80 students returned to school this year with a new school bag, lunch box, drink bottle and stationary. Your generosity has helped children to feel included and lightened the load during what can be an anxious time for any child.
We had this lovely feedback from a social worker:
"A colleague told me how excited she was to be collecting Tools for Schools items. She was delivering one bundle to a mum who was reluctant to take her child to school on the first day, as she could not send them with the basics such as a backpack and lunch box".
The highly anticipated movie Beauty and the Beast is released this month and we are inviting you to join us for a screening at the Regent Multiplex on Sunday 26 March at 3.35pm.
Tickets are $15 person with a portion of the sales going to Eureka Mums.
You can purchase tickets here. If you want to print out a poster for your kinder, school or workplace please email us at donate@eurekamums.org and we can send you one to print out.
We will need to close briefly on the following dates during the school holidays.
We can now rehome clothing from premmie all the way up to size 12 Years, in response to requests from social workers and thanks to your generous donations! We have plenty of clothing for newborn to 2 years, but we never have enough big kids clothing to fill requests.
The number of requests we are receiving for double prams has been steadily increasing. A double pram can be life-changing to a family with twins, or a baby and toddler - it allows them to walk older children to school, get to medical appointments and visit the park and shops. We currently have several families on our wait list for double pram, if you or someone you know has one to give, we would love to rehome it for you.
If you can help with these items, or have other infant equipment and clothing to give away, please visit this page to find out what we can rehome or contact donate@eurekamums.org to ask about our collection shifts.
We are also lucky to have established relationships with suppliers that can give us heavily discounted nursery equipment - if you would like to make a donation or a regular monthly gift, you can help us purchase what we need when stock is low.
Recently some of our wonderful volunteers have moved onto new jobs or changes in family circumstances have meant they can no longer volunteer with us.
We are always we are looking for people to help with collections, sorting, bundling and whole range of other tasks.
If you have a couple of hours to spare on a Tuesday through to a Friday between 9.30am and 3pm we would love to hear from you. Just email us at volunteer@eurekamums.org and we will talk to you about when we can help each other.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the warm weather and thank you again for sharing our commitment to families in need.
This was first published on the phil&teds blog
At phil&teds, we align ourselves with organisations that share similar gusto and seek to make a positive change in the world. St Kilda Mums does just that! The Australian-based organisation, founded in 2009, rehomes new and pre-loved baby goods, and nursery equipment to families in need. Through our Buggies for Good initiative, we stand beside them – helping make a difference to the lives of hundreds. We’re genuinely proud of this… phil-ed to the brim with warm fuzzies, in fact. Here’s their story.
After a visit to a local maternal and child health clinic, St Kilda Mums founder and Chief Executive, Jessica Macpherson, discovered there was a real need for rehoming used goods to vulnerable families.
“The clinic’s photocopying room was stacked high with used baby goods donated by kind, local parents. I volunteered to sort and package the goods for rehoming to families that need them. St Kilda Mums was born from that one small event. The concept was so simple; the outcome so immediate.”
Last year, phil&teds provided the organisation with over $20,000 worth of buggies, spare parts and accessories free of charge. In the past four years, through their work with maternal child health nurses and social service agencies, St Kilda Mums has rehomed over 1100 buggies from both phil&teds and Mountain Buggy.
“phil&teds’ inline buggies suit our families who regularly use public transport with two littlies in tow. Those that endure long walks to school, enjoy the ease of Mountain Buggy’s all-terrain, air-filled tyres. Me? I love the colours. Orange, apple green, cherry… makes me happy!”
Restoring a phil&teds buggy back to a clean & green pushing machine, before it goes to a good home
In 2015, St Kilda Mums helped over 7,300 vulnerable families. This year, they hope to increase that number to 10,000.
“Everything we do is aimed towards reaching this goal. All donations go directly to the families that social workers and child health nurses we’re affiliated with support. Each item to someone who specifically needs it.”
Jacqui is an enhanced care maternal and child health nurse working in Melbourne. She visits St Kilda Mums almost every week and has delivered dozens of buggies to families she’s worked with. Jacqui believes the benefit of a donated buggy is enormous not only for parents’ well-being, but also the development of their children.
“The gift of a buggy means mums and dads can leave the house with baby in tow – visit the shops, attend medical appointments, join a playgroup and take the kids to the park. It helps me build trust and a good working relationship with families in order to address the underlying cause of disadvantage.”
Helping organisations, communities and families to keep on, keepin’ on is what we like doing at phil&teds and Mountain Buggy. Along with our sample product and seconds stock, we collect pre-loved buggies from our friends around the world. Our clever little engineers give the buggies a once over to make sure they’re in good working order, and then we donate them back into the community, or to organisations like St Kilda Mums. Helping them support their cause more easily.
So, if you’ve got a buggy that you want to give the push, or know of an organisation or family that we can help, email buggiesforgood@philandteds.com. From buggy donations to charitable associations, phil&teds hearts helping.
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