Making holidays happier for those in need
We partner with like-minded individuals and organisations to deliver additional support to our clients particularly at times when they are faced with many external pressures.
We support people from all walks of life, including people with children in their care, people on low incomes and people escaping domestic violence. Through our crisis and transitional housing programs, we assist people in these situations to stabilise their circumstances before moving to longer-term living arrangements.
To help us ensure those we support wouldn’t go without this Christmas – we partnered with six groups – Moggill State School, Boonah Churches of Christ, Belle Property Cornubia, Kenmore Campus staff, Freeman Electrical and Raceview Congregational Church who each donated generously and ran their own individual Christmas drives to support the cause.
With the donations we were able to create 66 gift bags for the children of clients living in our crisis and transitional housing programs and 45 care hampers containing food and personal care items for people doing it particularly tough in Ipswich.
Donated gift cards from Scott Freeman at Freeman Electrical went to individuals and families in need in the Ipswich Region. We packed 8 food hampers and toiletries bags for tenants in Ipswich with donations of essential items from Raceview Congregational Church.
Donations from Belle Property Cornubia specifically supported people living in our crisis accommodation in Logan. 2022 is the second year in a row that owners Kati and Mel have facilitated a donation drive and said that they were overwhelmed by people’s generosity and that people resonated with the cause they were donating to.
Image: Belle Property Cornubia owners Mel (second from left) and Kati (right) presenting gifts to Housing Services team members Jacob and Sue.
Housing Support Worker Paula, who works with families in the Crisis Accommodation Program in Brisbane and Logan, said that “the leadup to Christmas can be stressful for parents and carers who worry about what, if anything, they’ll be able to put under their tree for their kids to open on Christmas Day.”
Image: Housing Support Worker Paula delivering donations of essential items to tenant, David and his family.
“The clients that I work with all want to provide their children with a Christmas they will remember, like any parent does,” Paula said. “The donations we received allowed parents to give their children the joyous celebration they want to provide.”
Donations from Moggill State School, and Boonah Church of Christ went to support people living in Ipswich, including families and individuals. Care packages containing a mix of food items, personal care products and gift cards ensured adults of all ages would also be able have a stress-free Christmas.
Image: Bags of essential items received from partners Moggill State School, and Boonah Churches of Christ ready to be sent out to those in need in our communities.
Ipswich Housing Officer Louise and Ipswich Chaplain Michelle said they were overwhelmed by the support of families from the school as well as Michelle’s church, Boonah Church of Christ.
“We work with people doing it tough every day. They deserve a happy Christmas like everyone else does,” Louise said.
“It’s powerful knowing people have had discussions with their kids about why they’re giving to a donation drive and how Christmas is a time for giving and care,” Michelle said.