Update on Small Comforts from Community
This project is a collaboration between the Rotary Clubs of Hawthorn, Brighton North, Glenferrie, Malvern, Port Phillip, and Williamstown, as well as Donations in Kind.
On Thursday, March 20th, our packing team at Donations in Kind included members from Rotary Clubs of Hawthorn, Williamstown , Brighton North we repacked 3,500 pairs of ladies' underwear into delivery packs.
Each month, our project supplies The Alfred and Box Hill’s Upton House with a range of new clothing, including men’s and women’s track pants and tops, t-shirts, and underwear. While much of the clothing is donated by corporations, we occasionally purchase items in bulk to fill any gaps in our supply, like the underwear
After completing repacking the underwear, the volunteers assisted in sorting items in DIK’s medical aisle.
On March 25th, volunteers from Hawthorn, Glenferrie, and Port Phillip worked together at Notting Hill to pack over 200 care bags for delivery to The Alfred, Upton House (Box Hill) & St Vincents which should cover approximately three months' worth of supplies. Malvern & Brighton North members also regularly attend packing sessions. Williamstown & Brighton North members provide support at DIK.
Port Phillip members deliver approx.. 35 care bags to The Alfred each fortnightly , Hawthorn deliver 20 care bags to Upton House in Box Hill per month, Hawthorn & Glenferrie share delivery of care bags to St Vincent’s Melbourne & Brighton North to Royal Melbourne. Currently this totals approximately 1700 care bags per annum
The actual bags are now being sewed by ex-Boomerang bag sewers plus other groups including a quilting group. They are also have a small cloth label on the pocket with our project logo. The bags are just lovely.
Finances
The annual financial contribution from all the Clubs in the collaboration enables us to purchase product for the care bags . A grant from Rotary Club of Balwyn assisted with the extension of the project to include St Vincents and in previous years D9800 District Foundation grants assisted with establishing the project and later with purchasing some clothing . An earlier grant from Rotary Balwyn also assisted with funding clothing and the racking to store the clothing.
What next?
The next care bag packing session is currently scheduled for June 24th 2025. (TBC)
We are always working to source products for the care bags contents and clothing.
We currently looking for a new supplier of moisturiser . Please let me know if anyone has any ideas.
We also plan to hold another packing day or days at Donations in Kind to sort new clothing into delivery boxes, including t-shirts and track pants. The next one being on Thursday 10th April (save the date!) . (With more packing sessions to take place on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays in June/July), until we can get the clothing into reasonable order so our volunteers can readily access the stock as required.
Thank You !
A big thank you to Barry from the Rotary Club of Malvern for providing space in his premises for both the stock and packed care bags. Thank you to support DIK, which is where the clothing is warehoused and is often a source of product and clothing. Thank you to our sewers to the care bags. Thank you to our donors of products including Migoals. Thanks to Good 360 & Givit for connecting us with donors of products.
Thanks to all the volunteers that pack care bags, sort and repack clothing, deliver care bags and clothing and source product. It is amazing how many bags we can pack in around 2 hours.
This project certainly is a team effort. Thanks to everyone involved!
Katrina Flinn
Project Chair-Small Comforts from Community
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