February Member of the Month – Shoalhaven Suicide Prevention Awareness Network
Shoalhaven Suicide Prevention Awareness Network is Good360 member of the month. The network is made up of representatives within the community who work to raise awareness of suicide and promote recovery of mental illness and community resilience.
What programs do you use your Good360 donations for? Who does the program serve? How does it impact Australians in need?
The Shoalhaven Suicide Prevention Awareness Network philosophy is simple. Connectedness, compassion, and kindness. Resilient communities working together to support one another and reduce suicide. Through our Random Acts of Kindness project, SSPAN designs care packages for the vulnerable people in our community, these include; people sleeping rough, new parents post bushfires or during COVID-19, care packs for people leaving violence, the elderly, young people, people with disabilities and many others.
SSPANâs volunteers compile and distribute the packs to individuals or groups. By reaching out we are connecting the community through kindness and compassion and building a more resilient community.
What is your favourite moment that you have had with a client when utilising the Good360 product?
There are many memorable moments, a disabled young girl dancing in her new ballet flats, young sports lovers having their own sports bag, supporting new parents welcoming a new baby during COVID-19 pandemic, back to school Empower Packs and the list goes on.
The most memorable is the look on our volunteer’s faces when they are able to gift something to someone in need, be it a drink bottle or nappies. The gift of giving in these difficult times, post bushfires and during COVID-19 in a tourist area which has experienced hardship, is amazing.
How does Good360 help your mission?
Good360 makes it so easy to secure donations of goods. SSPAN is a purely volunteer service with no paid staff and Good360 makes our mission possible. The support we get from the wonderful staff and the unbelievable amount of donations make our project possible.
What would happen if Good360 wasnât here to help?
Our Random Act of Kindness project would be greatly diminished. Good360 and its wonderful donors make it all possible without their support we would be knocking on doors daily to a community that is already under a lot of stress.
What is your favourite donation you have received from Good360 and why?
This is like choosing a favourite child! The sports bags and drink bottles were such a hit with children, and the backpacks were really well received, the steel drink bottles enlightened us to how much young people are aware of our environment, the KOH cleaning clothes are treasured, jumpers to keep people warm, soaps, toothpaste, clothes, there is so much! The favourite…no I really canât decide!
How many lives have you impacted through Good360âs donations?
This is hard to say, we ask that people receiving a Random Act of Kindness pay it forward, so it could be countless. However, we believe that our gifts have been given out to over 2000 people, there have been about 100 families that have benefited from different family packs. Our school packs will help a whole family, we estimate 5000 people could have benefited directly and a lot more indirectly.
With Australia accelerating efforts towards circularity by 2030, it is critical that all sectors of the economy and society are working together collaboratively and cooperatively to address the increasing resource constraints, inequities in resource allocation and growing waste challenges. This requires consumers, businesses, governments, and the charitable sector to all play their part in creating a more sustainable and equitable future for all, recognising we are all part of a collective dynamic ecosystem that is co-creating our future together.
Congratulations to our Member of the Month for March, Uniting Vic.Tas. Uniting Vic.Tas run several programs to assist communities in need and provide donations from Good360 in addition to services they provide. Since becoming a member in 2018, they have shared numerous impact stories of the joy they have created, especially to communities who have not experienced outreach previously. Read below on some of their programs and some special stories they have experienced on the ground.
March 8 is International Womenâs Day, and this year UN Women Australiaâs 2023 theme is âCracking the Code: Innovation for a gender equal futureâ. This brings an opportunity for everyone to acknowledge the power of innovative technologies and systems in the advancement of women, who are marginalised globally and have a smaller presence in the digital world. We are also challenged to address the current barriers in place that keep women stagnant and play our small part to welcome women to move through society as comfortably as men.
