A ‘Support Homeless People’ bi-annual luncheon will be held at in Mount Gambier on 11 April to raise funds for local charity ac.care and their work with people experiencing homelessness. Source: Timberbiz
The previous ‘Help Build the Bridge’ luncheon in April 2012 was sold out and raised more than $38,000.
The ‘Support the Homeless’ luncheon is open to women and men from all walks of life and not just the business community to enjoy a quality meal, network with over 250 business people and to support others who are going through a bad patch.
Keynote speaker at the luncheon will be Dr David Brand, chairman and managing director, New Forests Pty Ltd.
Dr Brand will share his comments in regard to 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.
Anne Hinkly-Tyler, one of the organizing group for this event, has assisted David Quill with the 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.
ac.care is one of the few organisations created and run by rural people for rural people.
It works towards providing opportunities for all who live in rural communities: for safe and stable accommodation, to continue or re-enter formal education, develop employment skills, strengthen family or personal relationships, children to be supported, nurtured and developed.
ac.care’s offices and community centres are in Mount Gambier, Millicent, Naracoorte, Bordertown, Murray Bridge, Berri and Waikerie.
