{"id":85356,"date":"2022-11-18T16:40:46","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T05:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?p=85356"},"modified":"2022-11-18T16:40:46","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T05:40:46","slug":"natalie-shares-her-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/living\/natalie-shares-her-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Natalie shares her story"},"content":{"rendered":"

NATALIE* knows what it feels like to be truly hungry.<\/p>\n

The senior admitted she had gone weeks without anything to eat, surviving on just water.<\/p>\n

“When I was in my youth, I was two years homeless, in my adulthood I have gone two weeks without food,” she said.<\/p>\n

Last, year Natalie was one of 850 local individuals and families who received financial support at Christmas time through the Geelong Giving Tree Appeal.<\/p>\n

The Geelong Giving Tree Appeal is an annual fundraiser run by Bethany Community Support in partnership with Barwon Child Youth and Family and the Sexual Assault and Family Violence Centre.<\/p>\n

Launched on November 12, Geelong and district people are encouraged to dig deep and donate to support local people experiencing significant hardships.<\/p>\n

All money raised in the appeal is used to purchase gift vouchers and distributed to individuals and families receiving support at Bethany, BCYF and the SAFV Centre.<\/p>\n

Natalie hoped that by sharing her experience, her story would encourage people to donate this year to help people like her.<\/p>\n

“I’ve experienced the difference between having a voucher and not having a voucher,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The main emotions that I have felt with any voucher or help I’ve received, is that’s it’s a surprise, a pleasant surprise.<\/p>\n

“It’s like a very precious gift, somebody cares about my situation, somebody cares about my quality of life, somebody cares about my welfare.”<\/p>\n

Through its 22-year existence, the Geelong Giving Tree Appeal has evolved from a toy drive to a fundraiser which last year raised almost $90,000.<\/p>\n

Natalie explained that for people receiving charity donations, vouchers were far more empowering in that they the receiver the gift of choice.<\/p>\n

“I remember during COVID receiving a hamper with a Christmas cake and tea bags and I thought ‘Oh well my life is made now! I’m okay, everything is cool!’<\/p>\n

“But other times, you can feel like the dregs of society when you get something that expired a year ago. Even though it might not be off, you’ve been given it because no one else wanted it.”<\/p>\n

“When you get a voucher, it can be anything you need.<\/p>\n

“You stop feeling invisible, you actually feel like you exist. It’s a lot deeper than a trip to the supermarket or a trip to Kmart.”<\/p>\n

People can register to fundraise for the 2022 Geelong Giving Tree Appeal at geelonggivingtree.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

* Name has been changed for privacy purposes.<\/p>\n

\/\/ Sponsored Content.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NATALIE* knows what it feels like to be truly hungry. The senior admitted she had gone weeks without anything to eat, surviving on just water. “When I was in my youth, I was two years homeless, in my adulthood I have gone two weeks without food,” she said. Last, year Natalie was one of 850 […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":85363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-85356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNatalie shares her story - Surf Coast 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\/surfcoasttimes\/living\/natalie-shares-her-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Natalie shares her story - Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NATALIE* knows what it feels like to be truly hungry. 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