A volunteer-powered charity providing everyday essentials to vulnerable children on the Central Coast has been crowned one of the winners of the inaugural Xero Beautiful Business Fund launched earlier this year.
We Care Connect took out the global prize of $70,000 in the Strengthening Community Connection category of the fund.
With more than 130 volunteers, the charity receives no government funding, purely relying on grants and community fundraisers to help the 30,000 children living under the poverty line on the Central Coast and in the Hunter region.
The funding will have a meaningful impact at a time when the rising cost of living is putting families who are already struggling under even more financial stress.
The charity plans to use the funding on items they cannot source second-hand, including newborn car seats, toiletries for teenagers, mattresses, underwear, nappies, soap formula, and more.
“Sadly, demand for We Care Connect’s service continues to be very much needed,” We Care Connect’s Founder and Voluntary CEO Derryck Klarkowski said.
“On average, we normally support 250 children a month, however last month in October we were asked to help 425 children with essential clothing and nursery items.
“The case workers we support continue to tell us that families are struggling to meet the day to day needs of family life with the rising cost of groceries, utilities and rent, so the support of clothing, linen, nappies and formula make such a big difference.”
He said the money would be used to for the collection, storage and distribution of care packages that go to vulnerable children, and the purchase of new items when stocks were running low of donated items.
Klarkowski said the community could help support the charity in the lead-up to Christmas by donating to its Christmas program which aims to provide new gifts to an anticipated 2,000 children.
He said new, unwrapped gifts can be taken to We Care Connect’s drop-off partners, listed on its website: https://wecareconnect.org.au/drop-off-locations/
Xero, the global small business platform, recently announced 28 small businesses and non-profits had won a share of the $690,000 global prize pool in the inaugural Xero Beautiful Business Fund.
More than 5,500 applications were received from Xero customers across Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom.
“It’s been amazing to see first-hand the incredible work Australian small businesses are doing and what their future aspirations are,” Xero APAC Managing Director Joseph Lyons said.
“They are having a remarkable impact on the wider community in diverse ways, and I am grateful for all the applicants who took the time to tell their stories.
“Our local winners are extremely dedicated to tackling challenges head on and generating impact, and I’m very proud that we at Xero can help them on their business journey.”
The four global winners each received $70,000, while the remaining 24 winners received $20,000 each.