Neighbourhood House keeping others warm this winter

RESIDENTS in Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale have rallied together to provide a means of keeping warm this winter for those less fortunate, thanks to a new Queenscliffe Neighbourhood House (QNH) initiative.

QNH co-ordinator Elisa Allen said the House’s Winter Jacket Donations Drive came about during the Term 2 school holidays, putting the call out for new and gently used jacket donations.

“Within an hour of our initial post going on social media we started receiving donations, it was actually quite surprising,” Ms Allen said.

“Raja [de Groot], a student of Community Services from Gordon TAFE and doing a placement here at QNH, helped us plan how to gather clothing donations, where she contacted Lazarus House to enquire about donations.”

Ms Allen’s 11-year-old daughter and St Leonards Primary School pupil, Chloe, decorated the donation box and designed the initiative’s poster to acquire extra donations.

More than 50 jackets were donated to QNH in the first week of the drive dating back to July 13.

Today, over 100 jackets have been donated by Borough of Queenscliffe residents.

“I was quite surprised how quickly the donations started coming in,” Chloe said.

“I didn’t think there would be this many jumpers and jackets.

“These donations are going to benefit the community and will definitely help out a lot of people that are really cold at the moment, so any extra donations would be awesome.”

QNH has placed an August 1 deadline on donations before the haul is delivered to Lazarus House in Central Geelong.

Chloe says she hoped the drive reaches 200 donations.

Lazarus House duty officer Phoebe Ward said the charity organisation is always grateful for community initiatives.

Last month alone, the House provided donations to 197 people in the Greater Geelong region.

Types of donations can range from meals to laundry services to clothing to healthcare.

“The fact donations started coming through within an hour is something we don’t always hear from other projects, but it’s really nice to hear,” Ms Ward said.

“There’s problems that we can’t fix alone, but when people come into the House cold, or in need of food or a shower, and we can help them with the community’s assistance, it’s a great feeling for our organisation.”

QNH plans to make the Winter Jacket Donations Drive an annual project.

Donations can be delivered to QNH at 3 Tobin Drive, Queenscliff.