Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Lady Mayoress Nina Schrinner have today presented $226,342 to local grassroots charities through the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Trust September grant round.
Councillor Schrinner said the grant round added to more than $389,000 donated by the Trust this year.
“The Lord Mayor’s Charitable Trust is all about grassroots support for Brisbane’s most vulnerable residents and today we provided a boost for 26 local charities and the hundreds of vulnerable residents they support,” he said.
“Brisbane has faced a lot this year, from COVID-19 and a devastating flood to an unprecedented cost of living crisis and we are continuing to support Brisbane’s most vulnerable residents when they need it most.”
Lord Mayor’s Charitable Trust Chair, Nina Schrinner said grants would support a diverse range of charities.
“The September grant round will help A Brave Life purchase 200 baby bundles for young mums to ensure they have the essentials they need when they’re welcoming their babies into the world,” Mrs Schrinner said.
“People with a disability or disadvantage will have the opportunity to develop their skills and pursue their dreams, with Access Arts receiving funding to create a new Producing Hub.
“The Trinity Centre Pantry Fortitude Valley will provide emergency food relief to more than 800 clients.
“Today’s grants will also help charities that support women escaping family and domestic violence.
“Friends with Dignity will use their funding to assist seven families resettle in Brisbane and help improve their quality of life by funding household and personal care items.
“For the first time, we presented a grant to Precious Wings to help them furnish their newly renovated premises in Windsor, creating a warm and welcoming space for grieving families to find support and understanding due to the devastating loss of their child.”
For more information about Lord Mayor’s Charitable Trust, visit www.lmct.org.au.
2022 AUGUST GRANT RECIPIENTS:
- A Brave Life Limited
A Brave Life helps to alleviate the risks of ongoing poverty, misfortune and helplessness experienced by many young mothers who are facing a broad range of challenges such as domestic violence, poverty, trauma, relationship issues, family breakdown and homelessness.
This funding will allow A Brave Life to provide 200 baby bundles to teenagers and young mothers over the next 5 months, alleviating some of the financial burden that they may face, whilst also giving them good quality and safe products. Each bundle is filled with all the immediate essentials that a new mum needs to care for her newborn baby and they believe in gifting good quality and brand new items that they may not necessarily be able to afford.
- *NEW* CHARITY – Access Arts (CPL)
Access Arts is Queensland’s leading organisation creating opportunities in performing and visual arts for people with disability or disadvantage to grow their skills, pursue their artistic practice, showcase and sell their work.
Funding will allow Access Arts to create a Producing House/Hub – to enable creative development by performing artists and art workers with disability. This hub will enable emerging performing arts professionals with disability to have a conducive learning environment in which they will develop their skills to work in the profession.
- BABI
BABI Youth and Family Service specialises in supporting vulnerable and disadvantage youth. BABI has been in operation since 1983 starting as a response to youth homelessness and now also includes youth engagement, family support, youth training and employment opportunities & support for young parents.
Funding will assist BABI to install Security Cameras and appropriate lighting for their new project – ‘Community Youth Space’, which, for the first time in history, will provide them with an opportunity to deliver after-hours positive youth activities, workshops and programs to local at-risk youth.
- Caring for Carers
Caring for Carers Australia is dedicated to honouring and acknowledging Carers and the enormous effort they show their loved ones each and every day. They are people who have compassion at their core. It is with this compassion they develop initiatives that make Carers lives easier and allow them to continue in their vital roles as Carers. They provide programs for adult Carers, young and foster.
Funding will allow 118 people to attend the Caring for Carers 4th annual Brisbane Carer High Tea. It is a half day educational event and lunch where Brisbane’s unpaid Carers can feel socially included.
- *NEW* CHARITY – Ecumenical Coffee Brigade Inc
The Coffee Brigade provides food and compassion on a daily basis to the homeless of Brisbane in rain, hail or shine. Their mission is to provide nutrition and connection every day of the year to anyone in need. This is encapsulated in their Vision: Always striving to alleviate hunger.
These funds will go towards their new commercial building in Windsor which requires a fit-out to a new kitchen, furniture and plumbing. These funds will ensure they can seamlessly expand their range of operations, enabling Coffee Brigade to expand to two food vans, thereby doubling the number of meals and connections we provide daily to the homeless of Brisbane.
- Friends with Dignity
Friends with Dignity is a collaborative national not for profit focused on improving the quality of life of any adult and child impacted by domestic violence through the provision of financial and tangible resources, programs and scholarships and enhancing the personal safety of individuals.
This grant would see Friends with Dignity assist 7 families resettling in Brisbane with access to essential daily items such as household and personal care items, gift cards and financial donations.
- *NEW* CHARITY – Green Fox Training Studio
Green Fox Training Studio is proud to be Australia’s first creative training facility first established within a high-security Queensland prison. Since 2019, they have worked alongside prisoners intent on turning their lives around, offering them training in graphic design, 3D modelling, animation and more, providing hope and real-world work experience.
With this grant, Green Fox Training Studio will establish a brand new training facility at their Salisbury office, specifically targeting marginalised women who have made contact with the criminal justice system. They will partner with the MARA Project to provide these vulnerable women with design skills via their JumpStart learning platform, increasing their chance of finding ongoing employment in the creative industries.
- Hope (Lovewell) Foundation
At Lovewell Foundation, they stand with women who want a better life. They support, encourage, champion and equip women to rebuild their lives. Their women come from a range of vulnerable backgrounds including homelessness, addiction, the sex industry, domestic violence, long term unemployment, childhood trauma, poverty and disability.
This grant will go towards their project aimed at strengthening women, especially in the area of mental health and wellbeing. It is aimed at sustaining their employment and continuing to rebuild their lives. The project will deliver practical, creative ways for the women to support their own growth day to day, as well as having them receive individual counselling where this is necessary.
- Kombi Clinic
Kombi Clinic is a mobile outreach medical team focusing on the eradication of Hepatitis C. They take Hep C testing, diagnosis, treatment and the cure to our marginalised and disenfranchised members of our community.
Their clinics are run at City Missions, rough sleeping locations, drug rehab services amongst others.
The grant will provide direct benefit to Brisbane residents as Kombi Clinic continues their focus on simplified access to screening, diagnosis and treatment for Hepatitis C. Funding will enable Kombi Clinic to purchase essential items for their van to giveaway to their patients such as bucket hats, caps, supermarket vouchers, backpacks and shower packs.
- *NEW* CHARITY – Ladybird Care Foundation
Ladybird Care Foundation offers hope and help to grieving families whose child has passed away. This is achieved through a pioneering peer mentor program where trained volunteer mentors who are also bereaved parents, are matched with a newly bereaved parent to walk alongside them in their grief journey.
The grant will allow Ladybird Care Foundation to organise fun annual retreats for grieving families. This pilot program would be solely for school-age children who have lost a sibling in the previous few months/years in Brisbane. It would be attended by trained volunteers who are already mentors within their foundation’s peer mentor program, and other youth work volunteers who will undergo leadership and further child grief support training.
- Little Stars Kids
Little Stars Kids provides trauma-informed-educational support through their Little Stars Learners Program to children who have experienced abuse and neglect who are living in foster care in Brisbane.
Funding will enable children to be part of our Little Stars Learners Program in 2023. They offer scholarships to children who are living in foster care in South East Queensland. These scholarships provide each child with one-on-one tutoring for 4 terms of the school year for 1 hour per week for primary school aged children with the time provided increasing into high school.
- Magic Moments Foundation (BBB)
The Brisbane Basket Brigade works with local grassroot charities in the Brisbane area to anonymously deliver food, clothing, toys and hope to those in our community who need it the most and might otherwise fall through the cracks and not seek help.
Funding will be used towards purchasing the shortfall of their targets of hampers (food) and gifts in 2022.
- Mamre Association
Mamre is an active, intentional community that works alongside people with disability and their families to live their version of a good life, providing vital, life changing support for all. Mamre exists so that all people can contribute to the richness of a diverse society and are respected and valued.
With this grant, Mamre will purchase a wide array of materials and resources. This will include large pieces of equipment to help develop children’s motor skills, assistive technology items, sensory therapy modality tools and, exciting play toys and resources.
- Mangrove Housing
Mangrove Housing is the founder of The Forgotten Women project, an initiative committed to providing homes to homeless women aged over 55, the fastest growing homeless population in Australia today.
This funding will enable The Forgotten Women to enter a head-lease agreement for 12 months, to place one additional, vulnerable woman aged over 55 into a safe, secure, affordable, fit-for-purpose home within Brisbane.
- Open Hands Community Care
Open Hands Community Care Ltd exists to transform the wellbeing and quality of life of their community, one life at a time. Open Hands is an NDIS Support Service provider and offers emergency food relief hampers, free and low costs groceries and household items at its ‘Neighbourhood Marketplace’.
“Leave No One Behind” is aimed at the vulnerable and financially disadvantaged people at risk of poverty and homelessness on the south side of Brisbane. With this funding, Open Hands will expand their reach by distributing 400 pre-packed hampers to front line responders and other identified local community service organisations such as Hands Of Hope at Willawong and Forest Lake Uniting Church.
- *NEW* CHARITY – Precious Wings
Precious Wings’ mission is to provide love, hope, understanding and support to families facing the devastating loss of their child. They aim to ensure all bereaved families have a feeling of ‘not being alone’ when leaving hospital with empty arms, and to help them navigate this difficult grief journey.
This grant aims to help Precious Wings furnish their newly renovated premises in Windsor, Brisbane. The grant will help purchase special-purpose furniture (folding tables, chairs, and sofas) to help create a warm and welcoming space for grieving families to find support and understanding.
- Queensland Braille Writing Association
Braille House delivers braille production and transcription, as well as tutoring and other education services for people who have blind or have low vision. Braille House is predominantly a free lending library that transforms texts into alternate tactile formats, including e-braille, large print and audio.
This grant will allow Braille House to purchase 370 custom Courier Satchels. Braille House has an extensive free lending library, accessed by children and adults who are blind or have low vision. Specially produced courier satchels are the packaging in which Braille House posts the likes of books and magazines which have been transcribed into Braille, ensuring the continuation of services offered to the vision impaired community
- Reason to Thrive Inc
Reason to Thrive provides Equine Assisted Learning programs to women who are survivors of Family/Domestic Violence. These programs are hands-on, practical modality, utilising horses as the teacher, to help participants gain personal growth and essential life-skills. Sessions result in increased self-confidence, trust, communication, leadership, empowerment, and overcoming barriers to build strong/positive relationships.
Grant will go towards an 8-week Equine Assisted Learning Women’s “Rebuild” Program – Term 4 of 2022 – free of charge to 8 women whose lives have been impacted by domestic and family violence.
- Rizeup
RizeUp is a community driven organisation consisting of committed people dedicated to supporting families affected by domestic and family violence. RizeUp drives awareness of domestic violence within society, working with front-line agencies to support women and children that are at risk of homicide. They provide life changing and practical support.
Funding will be used to support their Trauma Recovery Hub – as they have seen an increase in women requiring urgent medical attention. It will be used to support women and families in
Brisbane over a 12-month period. It will provide approximately 100 hours of counselling or other medical assistance (GP, psychology, psychiatrist, dental, etc), and enable them to support families to not return to the perpetrator out of economic necessity and to get back on their feet and begin healing, thus breaking the cycle of domestic violence in the long-term.
- StandByU
StandbyU Foundation focuses on connections and their purpose is to prevent and address complex social issues such as abuse, violence and isolation through the mobilisation of family and friends. They combine the strength of human relationships & the power of technology into their StandbyU Shield solution. The StandbyU Shield is a world-first safety solution that uses technology to create a secret and secure way to stay connected to loved ones, and put you in control of your family’s life.
If you are fearful of someone, it’s important you never feel alone. Now, recipients can feel safe and reassured with these Shields, knowing they always connected to people who care.
The grant funding will further 10 StandbyU Shields to deploy across Westfield locations across Brisbane.
- *NEW* CHARITY – Stationery Aid
Stationery Aid is an environmental and social justice charity that donates repurposed booklist and stationery packs to our most disadvantaged Queensland students to start the school year. We do this by collecting used school stationery and books that would otherwise go to landfill. Items are then sorted, cleaned and renewed.
Funding will enable Stationery Aid to purchase (hard to collect) items such as school text books, scientific calculators, headphones and USBs to giveaway to schools and office.
- The Carers Foundation
The Carers Foundation cares for Carers from the ages of 12. They are the only charity in Australia that provides wellness programs free of charge to support Carers Physical & Mental Health. The purpose of Carers Foundation is to prevent health-crisis and mental-health breakdown in Carers by providing evidence-based health restoration and connection programs to support their physical, emotional and mental-wellbeing.
The purpose of this grant is to support Carers with the provision of an essential WHO-CARES packages since there is so much additional stress financially with the increasing costs of fuel and basic food supplies. This has led to increased stress and anxiety in families as they cannot afford fuel to get to medical appointments or therapists, or enjoy nutritious healthy food which has become a luxury to most families.
- The VacSeen Project
The VacSeen project runs outreach health clinics in homeless shelters, hostels, and social housing. They aim to take medicine outside of medical settings, removing costs and increasing accessibility. Their doctors, and volunteers chat to people about their health, provide education, and help deliver both flu and COVID vaccines.
This grant will support their project to collaborate on a permanent weekly health clinic in Brisbane..
- *NEW* CHARITY – Trinity Centre Pantry Fortitude Valley
The Trinity Centre Pantry Fortitude Valley provides emergency food and financial relief to disadvantaged and vulnerable people, including the homeless. It is a not-for-profit small charity, run year-round by volunteers. The Pantry has operated continuously for over 30 years. In 2021, over 800 clients were served.
The grant will provide enhanced food safety of refrigerated and frozen foods, as well as dry shelf stock, to the more than 800 clients, who attend in person to seek emergency food relief provisions from them year round.
- *NEW* CHARITY – Wynnum Community Place (Redland Community Centre)
Wynnum Community Place supports homeless to housed, youth to aged and every demographic in-between with food, financial assistance, medical/scripts, case management of homeless/DFV to achieve a sustainable tenancy, community meals and important social/service connections.
The grant will support their ‘Hand Up’ project. It aims to provide a hot, home cooked meal (main meal, dessert, bread, tea, coffee, juice, fruit) for the vulnerable people across Wynnum/Manly, one night a week for a period of 50 weeks.
- Young Allies Foundation
Young Allies is an organisation of young people working to put on events and services that support the patients and families in paediatric hospitals across Brisbane. They do this through programs like their curated Care Hampers where they deliver thousands of everyday essentials and self-care treats to those who need them most.
This grant will allow Young Allies to organise weekly deliveries of accessible, nutritious and quick fruits for busy Brisbane families staying with our community partners at Ronald McDonald Houses in Metro North and Metro South.
