Rotary Central Melbourne supports two local homeless welfare centres, namely Youth Projects (located in Hosier Lane, CBD) and St Mary’s House of Welcome (located in Fitzroy).Both organisations provide a wide range of services to homeless people in the CBD and inner suburbs of Fitzroy/Collingwood, including the distribution of over 400 sleeping bags to help those sleeping rough through the cold winter.
The need is real as the numbers sleeping rough have escalated and temperatures. Our objective was to collect and eventually distribute at least 170 sleeping bags to them in May before the beginning of the cold winter. The plan was to raise funds via members, family and networks and match that with a Grant from the District 9800 Foundation. We were successful in achieving that goal. The Rotary Foundation's (TRF) matching grant structure is one of many reasons why we support contributions to TRF: those donations are eventually offered back to clubs to Do Good in the World.
The combination of the District Local Grant and club fundraising efforts saw a total of 222 winter grade sleeping bags collected and distributed. That is 222 individuals positively impacted this winter. The grant funds allowed the purchase of 89 of those sleeping bags: a major factor in exceeding our target, greatly appreciated by Rotary Central Melbourne and the recipient organisations.
