{"id":72048,"date":"2020-10-16T04:55:24","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T18:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=72048"},"modified":"2020-10-16T20:47:23","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T10:47:23","slug":"counting-down-the-days-in-a-helpful-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/counting-down-the-days-in-a-helpful-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Counting down the days in a helpful way"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOR the fifth year, fifteen-year-old Buninyong teen Jake Sbardella is set to sell his Happiness Advent Calendars to raise money for local charities providing support for the vulnerable.<\/p>\n

To date, Mr Sbardella said he has donated over $15,000 to Anglicare, The Soup Bus, The One Humanity Shower bus, St Vincent DePaul, Uniting Care and Backpack Beds for Homeless.<\/p>\n

\u201cI first got the idea for the fundraising on a trip to Melbourne where I was upset by the homelessness I saw there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, we went to the soup bus to see if I could volunteer but I was too young.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe then went online to see if we could find any ways to raise money and we found Sleep Swags, which is where we got the idea to sell these calendars to buy just one sleep swag and it blew up overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

With many of the markets cancelled that they would usually fundraise at, Mr Sbardella is hoping this year people will continue to purchase them, this time mostly online.<\/p>\n

Emma Sbardella, Mr Sbardella\u2019s mum, said the calendars can be bought through Facebook and at a few local places including Hattie and the Wolf, Noddy\u2019s Cottage and The Charity Card Shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came up with the idea for the calendars when he was ten and everyone wanted one of their own, so we figured if people were already willing to buy them we could use it as a way for Jake to raise money for the homeless,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI design them all and then they are printed locally at Revolution Print.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tricky this year because we would normally go to Spring Fest and the Buninyong Markets but they\u2019ve all been cancelled so we\u2019re just hoping to still raise money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, with the help of his grandfather, Mr Sbardella is also selling handmade pallet Christmas trees that come in sizes small to large.<\/p>\n

Especially this year, Ms Sbardella said it\u2019s been a great way to get everyone involved in raising some much-needed funds and awareness for the vulnerable members of the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people are looking for little gifts, it\u2019s a good way to give back to the community and is a feel-good thing at the same time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been quite humbling to be involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, there\u2019s even more families this year doing it tough and these organisations are going to need more money than they needed in the past, so we hope we can help.\u201d<\/p>\n

To place an order for a calendar or tree, visit facebook.com\/happinessadventcalendars<\/strong><\/a> and send a message.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOR the fifth year, fifteen-year-old Buninyong teen Jake Sbardella is set to sell his Happiness Advent Calendars to raise money for local charities providing support for the vulnerable. To date, Mr Sbardella said he has donated over $15,000 to Anglicare, The Soup Bus, The One Humanity Shower bus, St Vincent DePaul, Uniting Care and Backpack […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":72049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-72048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCounting down the days in a helpful way - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/counting-down-the-days-in-a-helpful-way\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Counting down the days in a helpful way - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FOR the fifth year, fifteen-year-old Buninyong teen Jake Sbardella is set to sell his Happiness Advent Calendars to raise money for local charities providing support for the vulnerable. 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