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End of Financial Year Winter Support Appeal

Hand-made quilt donated by The Canberra Quilters

This year, to say thank you to all who support this appeal, everyone who donates before the end of July will receive a chance to win some beautiful rewards. The Canberra Quilters have generously donated a beautiful hand made quilt and we have other winter warmer surprises such as luxury toiletries and hand knitted winter accessories.

The end of the financial year is fast approaching. We are appealing for your generous donations to the Early Morning Centre, especially this year as due to the COVID-19 pandemic we have had to cancel several planned fundraising events. As a result our income is down on our budget. All donations are fully tax deductible. There are various ways in which you may donate:

Online

Click here to make a secure online donation through the Hands Across Canberra website.

Cheque

Cheques made out to 'UnitingCare Canberra City' may be sent to GPO Box 1526, Canberra City ACT 2601.

Direct bank transfer

Account name: UnitingCare Canberra City
BSB: 634 634
Account number: 100 040 612
Reference: Please include your surname as the reference

Breakfast and Community Hub update

We are very excited that dine-in breakfast services have restarted as we now have an ACT Government approved COVID plan and sufficient volunteers.

Both breakfast and Community Hub guest numbers have been increasing as guests who had been staying away are visiting the centre more frequently as they feel more comfortable with the health situation.

We are seeing people we haven’t seen for months and it’s great to feel the community spirit building again.

Soldier On

Soldier On visited the EMC a few times in April and donated more guitars to the EMC. Members are now planning to come in regularly to host a musical jam session. Many of our EMC guests are great musicians and love playing together.

May was a busy month...

In May the EMC received support and donations from several groups.

The EMC would like to thank Saara Holidays and Apna Indian Bazaar for hosting an International Women’s Day lunch to support the Early Morning Centre. A wonderful lunch was enjoyed by all with many attendees being in beautiful and colourful traditional Indian dress that made the event extremely enjoyable and fun. The Early Morning Centre is extremely appreciative of the support provided by both Saara Holidays and Apna Indian Bazaar.

Saara Holidays and Apna Indian Bazaar fundraiser for the EMC

Our friends in the Muslim community celebrated the end of Ramadan with donations of food to the EMC through Helping ACT. They reminded us that the spirit of Ramadan is charity.

Donation from the Canberra Muslim community thanks to Helping ACT

We celebrated National Volunteer Week with a special afternoon tea for our volunteers which was sponsored by Canberra Consulting.

Our friends at Canberra Consulting also helped the EMC celebrate National Reconciliation Week by donating their time to help with our National Sorry Day BBQ.

Canberra Consulting team member volunteering at our National Sorry Day BBQ

As well as these events, we've received beautiful hand knitted winter accessories from Knit4Charities, the knitters of IRT Kangara Waters (who also held a sale of their goodies to support us), the Phoenix Knitters, Tuggeranong Uniting Church and the mother of Matt Forde, Manager of the Raiders.

Our sincere thanks to everyone who supported us in so many different ways.

Mobilise – Clothing provider charity

Mobilise, a new student organised charity that provides free clothes, attended the EMC in April to provide clothes and other items to guests. Approximately 25 guests made use of this service.

This service will now continue throughout winter with Mobilise visiting the EMC each Tuesday fortnight.

Hairdresser

The lovely hairdresser volunteers from Hair Aid are attending the EMC on a monthly basis. There is nothing like a good hair cut to make you feel better about yourself, and these hairdressers do it with great style and empathy for the difficult situations that some of our guests find themselves in. Thank you!

Hair Aid visit to the Early Morning Centre

Pets in the Park

Pets in the Park (PITP) was held on Sunday, 18 April and Sunday, 16 May. Despite the cold there were 38 dogs and 3 cats seen by the service on these two days.

PITP will continue to be held on the 3rd Sunday of the month for the first half of 2021. Our pets are our family and caring for them is important.