It may not feel like it, especially after the extra cold and wet winter we've just had, but spring is finally here! And what better time for an update from Eureka Mums.
Your impact
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:
- 226 clothing bundles
- 45 coats
- 127 linen bundles
- 45 prams
- 55 car seats
- 31 cots
- 120 packs of nappies
- 55 toiletry packs
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.
Introducing Neisha
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.
Run For A Cause
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!
Volunteering
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.
How can I help If I can't volunteer?
There are so many other ways you can assist us if you don’t have the time to volunteer or items to donate.
- You could run a collection drive at your local school, kinder or work place just like Tahlia, Jade and Bethany (below!) from Federation University did. Please email us for more information about the items we need.
- You could run a coffee morning at work and ask for a donation. Please check out our fundraising toolkit for more information.
- You can share our Facebook posts with you family and friends, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
- You could join our Give to Grow program by making the very special decision to make a monthly gift - giving us peace of mind that we can help families every single month.
- Donate your skills or business items like Katheryn from Evolution Photography and Events who recently donated her professional photography skills. Thank you Katheryn!
#therealbabybundle
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.
New Chair Announcement
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!
