Eureka Mums to lose local facility

THE Sebastopol warehouse of family support charity Eureka Mums is set to close.

Following a recent strategic review, Eureka, Geelong and St Kilda Mums chief executive Ruth Holdaway said the broader organisation is “consolidating… warehouse operations.”

She said the costs of running a facility in Ballarat are high, so the “difficult decision” has been made to end their lease on Gray Street, and no longer run a local facility.

“From around May 2022, children and families in the Ballarat region will be provided goods from either the Melbourne or Geelong warehouse,” she said.

“The Ballarat community will continue to be served by Eureka Mums for goods donations. We are consolidating… to reduce the amount we spend on rent and bills and focus more of the generous donations we receive on service delivery.

“Changing the way we do things will meet the needs of more children and enable our life changing service to impact more families.”

Ms Holdaway said money saved from no longer leasing the Sebastopol site will mean more prams, car seats, cots, clothes and essential baby and children’s items will be able to be distributed across the state to support more families.

But she recognises this will impact committed Eureka Mums volunteers who have given, and continue to give, their time to process donations for local people.

“We know this has been difficult news for our volunteers to hear. We know change can be difficult, but… there is no change to the purpose of the organisation; our focus remains on helping more children in need in Ballarat,” Ms Holdaway said.

“In the coming weeks, we will be providing detailed information about our new strategic plan and consulting further on the new way we will manage our service delivery.

“We are committed to working with the Ballarat community to find the best ways for local people to help local families.”