A ‘Support Homeless People’ bi-annual lunch will be held at The Barn in Mount Gambier tomorrow to raise funds for local charity ac.care and their work with people experiencing homelessness in the Limestone Coast. Source: Timberbiz
A previous event held in April 2012 raised more than $38,000.
The keynote speaker at the lunch will be Dr David Brand, chairman and managing director of New Forests Pty Ltd.
Dr Brand will share his thoughts on the Australian economy, discussing the future of the timber industry and the reasoning behind New Forests Pty Ltd recent substantial investments across the Green Triangle region.
Barry Maney, Robin Reid, Barry Stafford and Anne Hinkly-Tyler, who organised the 2012 event, have teamed up to convene the 2014 ‘Support Homeless People’ luncheon.
“When we started out we dreamt of it being a great opportunity to bring the business community together into a total south east networking event that could use its collective strength to raise funds to help support a local charity like ac.care and the homeless issue in our own back yard,” said Mr Maney.
“What we didn’t factor in last time was the awareness and education of business leaders and individuals to the issue in the south east and the outstanding work ac.care do.
“It opened up more doors for them and now they receive outstanding ongoing support from around the south east and beyond.”
Ms Hinkly-Tyler assisted David Quill with marketing for AUSTimber 2012 and works for ac.care in Mount Gambier.
She said the charity auction at the 2012 AUSTimber welcome dinner was so successful due to the generous support of the forestry and timber industries that it raised $50,000 for ac.care’s foster care service.
“These funds were used to extend the R&R pilot program they created that involves foster carers coming together to learn about responding to challenging behaviours not normally encountered in parenting,” she said.
“It is facilitated by a clinical psychologist who specialises in the affects of trauma and abuse on children’s brains.
“As a result of the program’s successful outcomes the State Government of South Australia now funds a continuing program, which has been re-named Side-by-Side.”
ac.care was formed in Mount Gambier in 1986 after local people identified a gap in services for teenagers requiring foster care and is one of the few organisations created and run by rural people for rural people.
Its offices and community centres are in Mount Gambier, Millicent, Naracoorte, Bordertown, Murray Bridge, Berri and Waikerie.
