Supporting Those Who Support Others

WORDS: CHYKA KEEBAUGH

Last week I chatted to you all about how to support small and support local.

Well, I hate to sound like a broken record around here (hang on! I think this broken record has been playing for coming on 20 months now?) but this week I am all about getting the support to businesses who are in the business of supporting others. Yep, read that sentence again! It’s time to support those businesses that make it their livelihood to help others, that build their business plans around a desperate need, and are always hustling to get their voice heard and their message out into the community.

As someone who has been in business for 30-odd years, I know how hard it is to be heard, to be seen. Standing out from the crowd is hard work, getting an idea off the ground is hard work. But you know what isn’t hard work? Supporting creative business ideas, donating when and where we can and sharing our experiences with friends. Simple things like ‘liking’ a post on social media and ‘sharing’ this post with friends all add up - so let’s do what we can for those who have built their lives around helping others.

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre is Australia's largest independent nonprofit supporting people seeking asylum and refugees. For two decades the ASRC has stood as a force for change for people seeking asylum and as a beacon of hope and decency. Never tiring in their fight for a better world, ASRC delivers more services on the ground than any other independent asylum seeker organisation in the country. Their work on the frontline with people seeking asylum informs their practice, they offer more than 40 holistic programs that protect people seeking asylum from persecution and destitution, support well-being and dignity, and empower people to advance their own future. Support can come in many ways, head to their website now for more information on how to support this amazing resource centre.

Bright Sparqe

Bright Sparqe is a charitable Australian organisation that is focused on caring for our homeless and most vulnerable community members. Through its distribution services, partnerships and outreach programs Bright Sparqe distributes food, bottled water, clothes and hygiene necessities (toiletries) to the homeless, underprivileged and people living below the poverty line in Australia. Bright Sparqe collects donated end-of-day edible produce from bakeries, cafes and supermarkets and clothes from partnered clothing stores. The food, water, toiletries and clothes will be distributed to the homeless and underprivileged. The successful program has provided products directly to the rough sleepers and other partnered charities that need them the most.

Sikh Volunteers Australia

Sikh Volunteers Australia is a non-profit volunteer organisation focusing on reducing distress in the community by providing FREE FOOD to disadvantaged families. Their Free Food Van and Free Take-Away Food Kitchen help in supporting our objectives. We have provided free food and drinking water to communities affected by national emergency disasters such as devastating floods, bushfires and now the COVID19 pandemic. They also support the homeless and needy with their Free Food Van in Victoria's South Eastern suburbs of Frankston and Tooradin.

St Kilda Mums

St Kilda Mums is a much-needed charity that collects, sorts and redistributes essential nursery equipment, clothing, books and toys for babies and school-age children. They work to ensure children and families are happy, healthy and safe, something every one of us deserves. As a charity that relies on donations, the help of volunteers and corporate support, St Kilda Mums believe that every baby and child deserves a safe start and that every family deserves a helping hand in hard times. An ethos I strongly believe in.

Foodbank

Foodbank is Australia’s largest food relief organisation, operating on a scale that makes it crucial to the work of the front line charities that are feeding vulnerable Australians. Foodbank provides 77 million meals a year (210,000 meals a day) to more than 2,600 charities around the country, accounting for 79% of all food received by charities from food rescue organisations.

Foodbank is also the largest supporter of school breakfast programs in Australia, providing food for 2,000 schools nationally (both directly and via programs run by other organisations). Foodbank provides regular breakfasts to more than 132,000 students at schools around the country and on top of this, more than 200,000 children seek food relief from our charities every month.

BUY Local or BYE Local

Bloblaustralia is a new initiative to help support small businesses by encouraging people to buy local before its bye-bye local. You only need to walk down to your local shops to see the devastation the last 18-odd months of lockdown has done. Small business is suffering across all industries due to the pandemic. We are here to help spread awareness of the fact that if a small business closes it may never open again. So what can we do? Stay connected with pages like bloblaustralia that remind us that shopping local is the only way for these businesses to survive.