Shaw and Partners Foundation donation

Forster Neighbourhood Centre recently received an unexpected but most welcome donation of $20,000 from the Shaw and Partners Foundation. The Shaw and Partners Foundation had a staff draw where their advisors could nominate a charity of their choice to receive a donation. Michael Holmes is a Smiths Lake based senior financial adviser and investment manager/stockbroker with Shaw and Partners who specialises in personal retirement income streams for self-funded, and semi self-funded retirees. When Michael got drawn out, he said he wanted to support a charity in his hometown and when he looked up the range of activities that Forster Neighbourhood Centre did in the local community, it was an easy choice. Michael also commented “Our CEO at Shaw and Partners, Earl Evans, is the key man behind the generosity of the Shaw and Partners Foundation. None of this would have been possible without his drive and passion”. Michael and his wife attended the Forster Neighbourhood Centre on Thursday last week to present the cheque to the Manager, Corinne Stephenson and President, Felicity Carter.

This could not have come at a better time for Forster Neighbourhood Centre. With the cost of living and housing crisis in our community, Forster Neighbourhood Centre is struggling to keep up with the increased number of clients and level of complexity presenting at the centre on a daily basis. Neighbourhood Centre’s in NSW do not receive core operational funding and rely on volunteers to play the role of a safe pair of hands for community members in crisis. It was fantastic to recognise the generous contribution of the Front Desk volunteers at the NSW Volunteer Awards last month however urgent funding is required to adequately support the volunteers in their role. To respond to the current crisis, Forster Neighbourhood Centre is lobbying all levels of government to employ a trauma informed crisis worker to ensure vulnerable Great Lakes residents are accessing the support services they are entitled to. Unfortunately, repeated calls for assistance from government have been met with a firm ‘no’, forcing the centre to review its hours and consider significantly reducing the days they are open to the public. The donation from the Shaw and Partners Foundation will greatly assist in covering the shortfall of operating costs for 3 months, providing much needed time to attract further funding.

Manager, Corinne Stephenson has said ‘The difficult decision to consider reducing days of the centre comes down to staff and volunteer wellbeing, they simply cannot continue to respond to triple the enquiries that we receive funding for.’ It is great to see the philanthropic sector recognising and supporting grass roots charities however the exceptional value for money that Neighbourhood Centre’s provide to the communities where they operate needs to be formally recognised at the state level.