{"id":4697,"date":"2024-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.build.optimodesign.com.au\/westbrook\/community-fund-spotlight-big-group-hug\/"},"modified":"2024-11-25T09:58:04","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T22:58:04","slug":"community-fund-spotlight-big-group-hug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/dev.build.optimodesign.com.au\/westbrook\/community-fund-spotlight-big-group-hug\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Fund Spotlight &#8211; Big Group Hug"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With over 350 volunteers, Big Group Hug is helping vulnerable children and families.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The charity turns 10 in 2024 and, in 2023, helped 6002 children by providing 120,000 items to assist families.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Bernadene Voss, CEO of Big Group Hug, said the Westbrook Community Fund grant will\u2026<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe rely on community support, that\u2019s what mobilises us,\u201d Bernadene said.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe $1,500 from the Westbrook Community Fund will go towards purchasing toiletries for teens when families have to flee a situation such as domestic violence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe cost of living is skyrocketing and it&#8217;s very hard now to find, you know, a bottle of shampoo under $10.00.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor teens in these situations, their identity is being challenged and they want to be like everyone else, which makes toiletries quite an important part component of that,\u201d Bernadene said<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u201cVolunteers are critical in helping us support more families and children in need. It&#8217;s been wonderful to see our volunteer numbers increase along with our geographical reach.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the recent opening of Tarneit in the west we are seeking more volunteers in that region.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Looking forward, the next 10 years are about helping more children and how they make that happen.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u201cA key priority for us is making sure every child gets the items that they need, the urgent and essential items that they absolutely need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re looking strategically at which locations might benefit from our presence and where there aren&#8217;t any services for children at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>Support Big Group Hug<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Big Group Hug will accept donated items that help young families, such as new toiletries or bed linen.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Volunteering positions are available. Visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com\/s\/u6jdCk8vmphkpjqqi9s9FGZz5W?domain=biggrouphug.org\/\">Big Group Hug SEEK Volunteer page<\/a>\u00a0to find the latest openings.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Looking for another way to contribute? <a href=\"https:\/\/url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com\/s\/u6jdCk8vmphkpjqqi9s9FGZz5W?domain=biggrouphug.org\/\">Find it here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/dev.build.optimodesign.com.au\/westbrook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Big20Group20Hug20Certificate.jpg\" style=\"width: 150px; height: 100px;\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With over 350 volunteers, Big Group Hug is helping vulnerable children and families. The charity turns 10 in 2024 and,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meet-your-neighbours"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dev.build.optimodesign.com.au\/westbrook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dev.build.optimodesign.com.au\/westbrook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dev.build.optimodesign.com.au\/westbrook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dev.build.optimodesign.com.au\/westbrook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dev.build.optimodesign.com.au\/westbrook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/dev.build.optimodesign.com.au\/westbrook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4732,"href":"http:\/\/dev.build.optimodesign.com.au\/westbrook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4697\/revisions\/4732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dev.build.optimodesign.com.au\/westbrook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dev.build.optimodesign.com.au\/westbrook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dev.build.optimodesign.com.au\/westbrook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dev.build.optimodesign.com.au\/westbrook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}