Hi
We are still operating in our three locations, Melbourne, Geelong and Ballarat as an essential community service.
The challenges are huge, as once again we are closed to our amazing volunteers, and generous goods donors. Thankfully, we can still receive donations via post and courier. We’ve never been more excited to see the postie turn up at the warehouse!
Social workers, midwives and Maternal and Child Health Nurses have even more challenges, navigating restrictions and balancing the needs of the families they support within their own COVID-19 Safe Plans.
The families you support live with significant barriers that cut them off from support and their community. If you had told me at the start of 2020 that we would all be able to relate to this because of a pandemic, I’m not sure I would have believed you.
Since 1 July 2020, because of the kindness of you and our amazing community, 3,171 babies and children received essential nursery equipment across our three branches. Anything from a pram to enable a family to leave the house. To a cot, mattress and linen to ensure a baby has somewhere warm and safe to sleep.
The generosity we have seen from our community has been nothing short of incredible.
Thank you just doesn’t feel like enough right now. We will forever be grateful to every single person who continues to support us and our vision of a world where no baby misses out on essential nursery equipment. You are helping to keep the warehouse doors open so we can support babies and children in their time of need.
I read something written by a lady named Leslie Dwight recently. In case you haven’t seen it, I thought I’d share it with you.
What if 2020 isn’t cancelled?
What if 2020 is the year we’ve been waiting for?
A year so uncomfortable, so painful, so scary, so raw, that it finally forces us to grow.
A year that screams so loud, finally awakening us from our ignorant slumber.
A year we finally accept the need for change.
Declare change. Work for change. Become the change.
A year we finally band together, instead of pushing each other further apart.
2020 isn’t cancelled, but rather the most important year of them all.
At a time when we’re being called on more than ever before, thank you for everything you do for St Kilda Mums. Take good care of yourself and your loved ones.
Warm regards,
Jessie
Jessica Macpherson
CEO
0437476750
jessica@stkildamums.org
Operating under Stage 4 restrictions
Thank you to everyone who has organised a courier, posted things to us or done some online shopping recently. These special deliveries keep our stock levels up so we can continue helping vulnerable families in need. The turnaround time is quick with most items being distributed to families within a week.
If you would like to send essential nursery items directly to our warehouse, please see below for a couple of options.
Courier service
If you have larger items to donate including prams, car seats, baby baths, bouncers, high chairs and baby carriers, please consider using our courier service. We can safely pick up your entire donation (including clothing, toys etc too!) from your home in metro Melbourne for $30. Please email us to book.
Australia post
If you have items that can be posted, or ordered online, we would be so grateful if you could use this option. Our address is:
St Kilda Mums
14 Winterton Road
Clayton VIC 3168
If you would like to know more about how we are operating under these new restrictions, please visit our COVID-19 FAQ page on our website.
A special message
An update from our Social Service team
Lockdown 2.0 has brought further challenges for our social service partners and we have all once again adapted. Social workers have reported that they’re having even less contact with the families they are supporting and finding a way to get essential material aid to them has become more difficult with restricted movement. Couriers, Taxis, Ubers and Shebahs are now being engaged across the city to deliver this aid.
For the first time ever, St Kilda Mums has modified our service policy and introduced an affordable courier service to deliver directly to the homes of families we support. Any social workers who have outstanding orders and no access to safe delivery can email us to discuss this further. This option is all about adapting at this strange time and ensuring that no family goes without.
Our regional service is continuing to dispatch orders across the state. We have also had to explore new options for social workers who are working from home or not permitted to meet clients face to face. If you access our regional service and your office is unstaffed or you are working remotely and still need to distribute orders please email us to discuss options.
New offerings
We’re always looking at ways to improve the items we provide. An example of this is our baby clothes bundles. To provide a greater range of baby clothes, we are now offering baby bundles in two packages.
- One for newborns - six months.
- And the other for six months - 1 year old.
For social workers ordering for a newborn, they may receive two bundles when stocks allow. For social workers ordering for an older baby, the second option will provide more clothes and avoid the smaller baby clothes not being used.
Last financial year in numbers
We consider each case individually because every family we help is facing their own unique challenges and trauma. But sometimes it is helpful to stand back and look at the numbers as a whole. Understanding the sheer scale and reach of our service across Victoria paints a powerful picture of the difference you make by helping us.
Each year we produce this detailed 'impact tree', which shows key measures of the difference you make. The tree shows the collective impact of St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums - we are one organisation, with the goal of reaching every baby and child who needs our support in Victoria.
St Kilda Mums, Geelong Mums and Eureka Mums assisted 20,004 children from 7,566 families throughout Victoria in the last financial year.
With your help, this included:
- 15,516 clothing and linen bundles
- 7,069 toy and book packs
- 2,074 carseats
- 1,986 prams
- 835 cots
- 6,547 baby and adult toiletries
And thousands more items… a total of 61,318 items in fact.
Four Golden Hearts
The amazing Four Golden Hearts are a Melbourne community group that collect donations of toiletry products and bags and distribute to organisations working with the homeless, underprivileged or those experiencing financial hardship. The team packed 70 bags of full sized new toiletries for St Kilda Mums over one weekend! This will make such a difference to the mums we help, who sometimes choose to sacrifice personal care items in order to afford necessities for their children.
Silver Lining from Mother's Day Lunch cancellation
Heartbreakingly, we had to cancel the 2020 Mother’s Day Lunch which had been rescheduled from May to October due to COVID-19. As our major event of the year, this had a huge impact on our fundraising. We’re so pleased to let you know that all of our event sponsors chose to donate their contribution, or redirect it to other projects. Thank you Zendesk, AIA Australia, Decjuba, L’Oreal Australia and Belle Property for your spectacular support.
Our vendors have also been incredibly accommodating. Special thanks to The Glasshouse, Liberty Events and The Eventurer. In addition, a large number of you who bought tickets to the event chose to donate the cost back to St Kilda Mums. More than $32,000 was donated. For that we are so grateful, especially given the trying circumstances many Melburnians find themselves in.
The direct impact of your support
As we face this difficult time, it’s important to reflect on the families we have been able to assist because of your continued support.
The month of July highlighted that 34% of families we helped were negatively affected by COVID-19. Loss of employment being the most common effect. The number of children affected by poor mental health in their family has doubled compared to this time last year.
Nearly 40% of the families are migrant, refugees or asylum seekers, and sadly the number of families affected by violence has increased also.
Here’s a beautiful feedback card we received. We can’t pass your details on to this family but we can share their personal thanks with you.
Generous corporate support
L’Oreal Australia are now proudly sponsoring The Showroom at our HQ! This super busy area is where all our beautifully presented stock waits to be picked up by social workers and then distributed to families in need. L’Oreal Australia have worked closely with St Kilda Mums this year. Volunteering when they can, donating stock and providing crucial financial support when we needed it most.
Ferdinand's freedom machine!
You may have seen Ferdinand’s gorgeous smile on our social media last month!
Ferdinand’s family received a new pram recently and his smile says it all. His mum was very excited and thankful to receive such a beautiful double pram which will ensure she can get out and about with Ferdinand and his new baby brother.
We are always so grateful to our generous community of supporters who donate their essential nursery equipment to give it a second life. These pre-loved items, such as prams, car seats and cots are often life changing for the families we help.
Annual Giving Day
Thank you to everyone supporting our biggest Giving Day ever on 17 June. Nearly $350,000 was donated across our three branches. With all donations quadrupled by generous matchers, that’s an incredible $1.4 million. It was heartwarming to see all of the different ways that our community give, share and care for St Kilda Mums.
Since 1 July, 3,012 babies and children have received essential nursery equipment. This money will ensure that we can support every family who turns to us between now and Christmas time.
Keeping busy at home
While our volunteers are eagerly awaiting their return to the warehouse, they have been keeping busy at home knitting, crocheting and sewing! Take a look at some of their amazing creations below.
Homemade blankets are always a beautiful addition to our cots and prams. If it’s something you’re interested in helping with, here are the measurements -
- Cot blankets: 120 x 150cm
- Bassinet blankets: 80 x 100cm
- Pram blankets: 70 x 90cm
- Single bed blankets: 160 x 230cm
Double Impact Donation
With restrictions in place in Victoria, metro retailers have closed their doors and many regional stores are being severely impacted due to the lack of tourists. You can support them AND help a struggling family by placing an online order for needed items and shipping it to St Kilda Mums.
We'll make sure it's quickly distributed right where it's needed most.
We are low in stock on almost everything right now. Please check our website for items we can and can't rehome.
