Charity

I like Bowral’s Bong Bong Street as much as the next person who appreciates nice food, beautiful furniture and pretty gift shops. And that’s especially in the cooler months when even though you’re only 90 minutes from Sydney you’d be forgiven for thinking it was much further.

But as relaxing and escapist as that can feel it doesn’t mean that I don’t expect real life to exist there too. Or that many of the people working and living in the area don’t all live in a beautiful bubble of Southern Highland’s privilege everyday of their lives.

Continue reading "Bowral needs to get real" »

Editor’s note: This week on Twitter Rhiannon pledged to donate $10 each day to a different charity. And she’d welcome your suggestions on charities worth donating to. You’ll find her blog and Twitter name at the bottom of her piece.

Here’s my confession: I’ve done a few bad things in my life. 

When I was seven I stole some stickers from my teacher. As Julia Roberts would say, big mistake. Huge.

Even now I still turn nauseous now at the thought of banana-scented scratch-and-sniff.

Continue reading "How to be good on $10 a day" »

For a politician who prides himself on his relationship with Australian voters, Barnaby Joyce’s comments this week on foreign aid are, frankly, un-Australian.

Senator Joyce used a speech at the National Press Club yesterday to suggest that $50 million in aid that will help people with little or no food in poor countries deal with rising food prices should instead be spent on lowering food prices in Australia.

This year Australia’s foreign aid spending will total just $3.8 billion – or only about 0.35 per cent of our gross national income. That’s 35 cents in every $100. In the context of the Australian Government’s overall budget, we’re talking about a very small amount. Our Government has enough money to fund this, while also spending on essential services here.

Continue reading "Barnaby’s on his own with comments on foreign aid" »

Five years ago, Oxfam started the Unwrapped giving program, giving Australians the chance to buy their friends and family a different kind of present – one that also contributes to our work helping people out of poverty around the world.

It’s a concept that many charities use in one form or another. It’s proved to be popular, and we hope it will become even more so.

It works like this - you chose a present, maybe a goat, maybe a pile of poo. You get a fun gift card to give as the present and Oxfam gets money to continue our work. That might not necessarily mean that we use the money to buy a goat for a poor family overseas, (a goat might not always be the solution), but we will use it for an agriculture related program that helps people grow food to be able to feed their family, and maybe make some money to send their children to school. How your money will be used is explained on our Unwrapped website when you buy your gift.

Continue reading "Why buying a goat does make a difference" »

For sale: One cute animal that will help you save the world… or will it just make you feel better?

Charity gift packages that offer you the chance to buy a friend a goat, some chickens or even a pile of poo for a poverty-stricken family in the developing world might make us feel warm and fuzzy, but they can also be misleading.

On the plus side, they offer a tangible way of giving someone the gift of charity donation for a present. Buying a “goat” might come with an e-card, a receipt and a funny picture of the creature packed with his suitcase and ready to go. In short, a relatable image of what you may have contributed to.

Continue reading "The ethics of buying a goat" »

A second miracle has been confirmed for Mary MacKillop, and she is now on her way to becoming Australia’s first saint in 2010.

But who was she?

Mary MacKillop’s was a life of struggle and passion that was underpinned by integrity.

Continue reading "Let 2010 be the year of Mary MacKillop" »

This week I was struck by the story of an 18-year-old Victorian student who was among 48, 594 young people to receive their Year 12 results and find out that they’d completed their Victorian Certificate of Education, or VCE.

Jack was by all accounts a model student in his senior years at school: he loved the subjects he was studying, and even stepped up to the role of house captain.

But in his early years at secondary school, it was a totally different story. Jack didn’t want to be at school, had no interest in his class work and didn’t feel like he fit in with classmates at all.

Continue reading "Successful schooling begins at home" »

You can’t go anywhere without hearing about climate change. There’s no denying that it’s a critical issue for many of us when thinking about the future. Today as I walked to work I noticed a young man wearing a T-shirt with an image of Earth and text that said ‘Defend Tomorrow’ and it was clear what his views were.

It’s great to see this sort of passion, but it made me think about the thousands of volunteers who contribute to The Smith Family’s work, because their social conscience is undoubtedly just as strong as this man’s, just perhaps less overt.

Although many Australians are continuing to feel the effects of the global financial crisis, The Smith Family has been inundated with requests from members of the public to offer their services as volunteers over the Christmas period.

Continue reading "Why giving your time is the best Chrissy gift of all" »

It is always heartening when Australia bands together around an issue with such cohesion and gusto as we have seen over the past fortnight with the separation of the conjoined twins, Krishna and Trishna.

I feel I should, out of journalistic integrity, (not that I’m a journalist) mention that I have had some dealing with the twins. In 2007 and 2008 I would spend my weekends volunteering at their orphanage in Bangladesh and was struck at the time by the girls’ strength and resilience.

Andrew Bolt’s piece in Friday’s Herald Sun focused on the debate (largely in our oh-so-balanced talk back arena) about whether or not the Australian Government should have foot the bill for the operation to separate the twins.

Whilst I wholeheartedly support Danielle, Moira Kelly, Atom Rahman and the wonderful team who have supported the girls, I must - and believe me I never thought I’d utter these words - agree with Andrew Bolt in saying that the Australian Government and associated departments made the right decision in not paying for the procedure.

Continue reading "You don’t have to be brain surgeon to rejuvenate a life" »

The Kimberley is spectacular and spiritual. However, it’s not a place to get a flat tyre or have any other mechanical failure. I know, I had a flat there in July. Believe me, finding a working jack, an inflated spare and the manual can take on real meaning. 

In the course of the next hour, four cars came down this rutted and dusty road.  Despite being covered in red dust, oil, blackened by the tyre remains and wielding a large tyre lever, not one of those drivers assumed I was Ivan Milat or Bradley Murdoch. Each pulled up to offer assistance. All courageously took the risk to make sure I was safe. I wondered if we would do this closer to home?

A good friend once told me the story of running out of petrol and being given a full can of petrol by a stranger, whose only request was “refill the can, keep it in your boot and pass it on to someone else.”

Continue reading "Charter For Compassion – let’s pass the can around" »

At the heart of the Australian ‘fair go’ is the belief that our society provides every individual with the opportunity to make the most of their lives, regardless of their parental or family background.

A commendable ethic indeed, but how real is it in practice?

Are we really giving our children the chance to grow up masters of their own destiny, or are we (unintentionally or not) confining them to tread the same footprints as their parents?

Continue reading "Cycle of disadvantage is getting worse each generation" »

“What about the children starving in Africa?”

I’d get that a lot when growing up if I didn’t finish the food on offer.  I suppose I am not alone in that memory.  But, like the food itself, it was a throwaway line.

For my generation, who have since become parents themselves, was it an effective call to act?  While over-ordering takeaway, because we are consumed by watching Masterchef - a show that taunts and rejects food - the same day that 25,000 children die from poverty-related causes - I think not.

Continue reading "The volunteer gene is facing extinction" »

World Vision is a signed-up member of the ever-growing ‘I Love Frankston’ fan club, applauding the generosity and compassion of local residents whose good deeds often go unnoticed by the media.

Results from a recent World Vision survey into child sponsorship found that the so-called ‘bogans’ of Australia often beat out the bourgeoisie and blue-bloods when it comes to making a difference in the fight against global poverty.
 
According to the survey findings, Frankston residents are among Australia’s biggest givers to children living in poverty, regardless of a weekly median income of $880, which is significantly lower than the national median household income of $1,139. Despite child sponsors accounting for less than two per cent of the total population of Victoria, more than 1,000 Frankston residents currently sponsor a child through World Vision.

Continue reading "Bogans are the most generous givers" »

…..but the body is not.

And I am in a whole world of pain.

And no, seeing as you ask, I am not about talking politics (or at least not on this occasion). Rather, I mean the physical pain of preparing to climb, just four weeks from now, Africa’s Mt Kilimanjaro – “Killy”, to its friends.

Continue reading "5895m above sea level and the oxygen is thinning…" »