Charity pilots pop-up donation sites

AT Toyland in Wendouree co-owner Bruna Pomella and her staff have a spirit of giving.

Having collected toys to donate to Eureka Mums at Christmas time, Ms Pomella said the two boxes had to be taken to Geelong because the family support charity no longer has a local warehouse after closing their Sebastopol site last year.

This is something the toy store’s staff were happy to do, but they were concerned about whether the items would make their way back to benefit families across Ballarat.

“Our customers have contributed in good faith, believing as we did, that the toys would go to mums in this region, not elsewhere,” she said.

As for whether locally donated items stay in the community, Eureka Mums’ head of operations and impact Julia Roache said the organisation has supported 650 babies and children in the region this financial year, bringing back $268,200 worth of equipment, supplies, and clothing.

She said they’re aiming have more of a presence in Ballarat to connect with donors so they don’t have to travel, and in recent months, they’ve been piloting a pop-up donation drop-off model in the region.

“It currently works well for community support without putting pressure on the space that donations collections may place on our partners.

“We successfully held a pop-up donation drop off at Sebastopol Primary School… and Toyland collected for us during the Christmas period. We will be hosting a pop-up donation drop off in Ararat in early February 2023 too,” Ms Roache said.

“Eureka Mums has a van that collects donations from our pop-up drop-off points and the donations are processed at one of our two other sites, Geelong and Clayton.”

But since the closure of the local warehouse, Ms Roache said donations have “understandably reduced.”

“Eureka Mums is open to partnering with local agencies or businesses who wish to collect donations on behalf of our charity,” she said.

“We are negotiating with another local school for a regular drop off to begin in the new school year.

“The number of items being provided outweighs our ability to collect in donations and we would really love to hear from local opportunities to collect donations with us.”

Acknowledging how expensive it is for the not-for-profit to rent a base, Ms Pomella said she hopes someone with spare warehouse space in Ballarat might donate it to the cause.

The Sebastopol warehouse of Eureka Mums closed last year following a strategic review of Eureka, Geelong and St Kilda Mums’ operations.

The costs of running a facility locally were too high for the organisation, and so the lease was ended on Eureka Mums’ Gray Street site.

Since about April, children and families in the Ballarat region have been provided goods from either the Melbourne or Geelong warehouse.