The Sunrise Foundation
The Sunrise Foundation was created by Wayne Schwass in March 2006 as a direct result of him living with depression for ten of the fourteen years he played with the VFL/AFL.
The Sunrise Foundation aims to develop and deliver purpose built preventative education programs addressing depression for elite athletes across all sports and is aimed at young adolescents through to mature age athletes (16 – 36).
The Sunrise Foundation is totally committed to impacting an illness, which has the potential to affect anyone of us in the community.
Ganbina Koori Economic Employment Training Agency – Shepparton
Ganbina believes that every young person has the right to believe in a positive future. Established in 1997, Ganbina was founded to ensure that the 6,000 strong indigenous community in Shepparton, Victoria would achieve equal representation in the local economy by supporting indigenous youth to realize their full career potential.
Its success has been a unique proactive approach in tackling the tough issues associated with poor education retention rates and employment participation for indigenous people.
Ganbina’s suite of programs engages the individual and their families to recognize the interconnection between education, training and employment. These benchmark practices develop the individual’s formal education and life skill capabilities.
Ganbina’s outcome focused approach to meeting community need has separated it from the traditional government funding sources.
Family Life
Family Life’s offices are situated in Bluff Road Sandringham and their purpose is to promote a community caring for families, children and youth.
They work to prevent family breakdown and promote wellbeing across generations by providing counselling and support services to families, children and young people.
Family Life work with government, business and the community to develop networks of support for promoting social change and wellbeing. Priority is given to vulnerable families, children and young people and holistic initiatives which facilitate sustainable change to improve the life course of children, young people and adults to become engaged and responsible citizens.
The Salter Foundation has provided a grant to fund TAFE scholarships to assist with the education and training of long term unemployed youth.
Victorian Arabic Social Services – A.R.A.B. (Anti Racism Action Band)
VASS is a non-religious, non-political and non-sectarian organisation that provides and promotes social, cultural, educational, recreational and support services in the north and north-west of Melbourne.
The Anti Racism Action Band is run by VASS. It’s mission statement is –
“To develop and maintain a large, permanent, high energy, socially challenging, artistically innovative, collaborative community development performing arts project for youth of any cultural background in the Northern region of Melbourne”
The over-riding objectives of A.R.A.B. are:
Challenging racism and gang culture in the north and north-west of Melbourne.
Increasing self-confidence, self-esteem and self-image amongst the youth.
Tackling the issues of depression, isolation and anti-social behaviour through a performing arts framework.
Promoting inclusion – VASS realises that in order to tackle the issue of racism, it has to engage and reach a wider audience and not just those from Arabic speaking backgrounds.
Securing A.R.A.B. as an ongoing youth performing arts project.
Developing performing arts skills and life skills
A.R.A.B. are currently working in 8 secondary colleges in the region and the Salter Foundation has provided a grant to produce an information brochure for distribution to youth in the secondary colleges and the region.
World Vision
World vision works around the world – and in Australia too – to transform the lives of disadvantaged and at risk children and communities. World Vision is committed to the alleviation of suffering and an end to poverty everywhere.
World Vision is Australia’s largest charitable group and helps over 20 million people every year.
The Salter Foundation has provided a grant to sponsor two children in Sri Lanka –
A boy aged 4 and a girl aged 5.
Through World Vision’s work in Sri Lanka they are:
Assisting more than 27,000 sponsored children, their families and communities with needs such as nutrition, clean water, health care and education
Providing training and small loans to enable men and women to increase their food production or set up small businesses
Protection of children’s rights
Helping families fleeing from fighting areas to re-settle
TABITHA FOUNDATION AUSTRALIA (TFA)
TFA was established in 2002 to support Tabitha Cambodia. TFA Board and members work on a voluntary basis and 100% of all donations are sent to support the programs in Cambodia. It’s purpose is to support and aid impoverished and underprivileged Cambodians in their journey to “graduate” from poverty by:
Encouraging and facilitating fundraising to support Tabitha Cambodia
Encouraging volunteer house-building teams to work with Tabitha Cambodia
Developing a network of schools that support Tabitha
Facilitating corporate sponsorship, including “team-building” programs
Seeking opportunities for Tabitha Cambodia to sell its cottage industry products in Australia.
Tabitha now supports more than 33,000 families (representing over 264,000 Cambodians) in their journey to a better life, including food and income security, safe water, housing and education for the children.
House Building Program:
TFA encourages volunteer house-building teams to travel to Cambodia to build houses for homeless Cambodians. Most families participating in the Family Development Program are able to eventually save enough money to buy land and the materials to build a house. However, some very poor families cannot save the complete AUD$1,500 for a house; reasons include head of the family being a widow, single mother or landmine victim, or the family lives in a very poor area. For such families, Tabitha Cambodia brings international, volunteer building teams to Cambodia to supply the additional money and work under the direction of Khmer builders to construct simple houses. The Salter Foundation provided a grant of $1,500 to enable a house to be built for a Cambodian family.
MURDOCH CHILDREN’S RESEARCH INSTITUTE & PONTING FOUNDATION:
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) is Australia’s largest child health research organisation. They are dedicated to finding ways to prevent and treat health conditions affecting babies, children and adolescents. MCRI conduct nationally and internationally recognised research to improve the health and wellbeing of children. MCRI was established in 1986 with support from Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE, her family and others.
The Ponting Foundation was established by Rianna and Ricky Ponting to raise money for young Australians with cancer and their families. The Ponting Foundation is dedicated to doing everything possible to help young Australians and their families beat cancer. It provides funding for a wide range of essential services that comfort and nurture young Australians with cancer while providing emotional support and financial assistance for their family.
Through alliances with some of Australia’s leading cancer charities and research groups, Ricky has used his profile to influence widespread community engagement to raise important incremental funds for specific charity programs, hospitals and ground-breaking research projects engaged in the fight against cancer in Australia’s children and youth. The Foundation also funds programs that assist in the care and well-being of the wider family unit as they support their child through their illness.
The Salter Foundation made a grant of $13,000 which is part of the Ponting Foundation’s grant to MCRI’s research into the psycho-social impact of long term cancer treatment in young people and their families.
Timehelp – Connecting Two Generations
Timehelp was established in Geelong in 2004 by Lisa Kingman in partnership with Alcoa Foundation and principals of government primary and secondary schools. The program turns the spare time, wisdom and energy of retirees as volunteers into valuable and sustainable learning and social benefits for young people. The concept was triggered by needs including:
• A decreasing number of parents available to help young people in schools as volunteers.
• An increased ageing population (5,000 Australians turn 50 every day) looking for greater social connections and ways to remain active and stimulated in their communities.
• The scarcity of alternative human resources for government schools to source, screen, train and support volunteers.
• The widening of the generation gap and the need to change perceptions younger people have of older people and vice versa.
Timehelp’s Vision is to enable Australia’s premier intergenerational volunteer program in schools. Their Mission is to connect two generations for education, wellbeing and community benefits.
Timehelp’s objectives are:
1. To bring to life a community volunteer program that results in education benefits and life learning outcomes for young people, through interaction with the older generation.
2. To provide a structured and supported volunteer package to address needs of young people in government primary and secondary schools – in a way that does not have to draw on school’s own limited resources.
3. To provide a growing population of over 55’s and retirees with opportunities to contribute to and connect with young people in their local community in a meaningful way, share their wisdom and experience and enhance t hei rown physical and mental wellbeing.
4. To ensure Timehelp is embraced, funded and valued by the community for the community.
Timehelp believe our older generation has a wealth of untapped skill, knowledge and wisdom. By ensuring our ageing population is active, stimulated and connected they will reduce the economic and social pressures on our communities by removing barriers to social isolation and improving health, both physical and emotional.
The Link Centre – Careers in Trades Project
The Link Centre caters to the needs of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who are not attending school and who are disengaged from society. The aim of the Link Centre is to assist young people to re-engage in life by providing specialised and highly individualised help that is tailored to their needs. The Centre accepts enrolments from young people 15 years and over and assists each young person to identify an occupation for which they might be suited and helps them establish a pathway to enter that occupation.
The goal for each young person is:
– to return to mainstream secondary schooling at a level appropriate to his or her age;
– to enter a TAFE course or an alternate education setting;
– to commence an apprenticeship; or
– to commence paid employment.
The goal will be reached by achieving the following objectives:
– improvement of social and emotional wellbeing of each young person through personal development support; and
– improvement in each young person’s academic abilities, with a focus on literacy and numeracy foundation skills.
SMALL GRANTS SCHEME
Under our small grants scheme a grant of $250 was made to the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research in Queensland.
The Rotary Club of Brighton (through Rotary International)
The Salter Foundation provided a grant to assist in a campaign to provide clean water to the children of Cambodia.
The under 5 years old infant mortality rate there is 166 per 1000. (The international average is 74 per 1000 and in Australia, it is 4 per 1000). This is mainly due to contaminated water (something we would not tolerate). Even when the children survive they, and of course the rest of their community, all suffer from constant diarrhoea and stomach infections, as well as having an increased risk of typhoid and cholera.
For the children, these sicknesses retard physical and mental growth.
This is not plain charity, but a joint venture /partnership with the people we are assisting, where our help enables them to help themselves and ultimately become financially self-sufficient.
Monash University Scholarship
Education, Training & Employment is a major area of focus for Salter
Foundation and a scholarship has been approved for a disadvantaged student from Monash University. The objectives are to provide a scholarship to a student in the Faculty of Business and Economics at Monash University to assist in the purchase of books, computer, software, travel, living expenses, etc. The scholarship is awarded for three years depending on results and review.
Save the Children
Several projects have been funded in Vanuatu including the following:
Health Clinic at the Central School in Port Vila
April 2016 – The Salter Foundation assisted with a grant to complete the construction of the building of a health clinic at the Central School which educates children from Prep to year 12. Nurse Junko Saito has been appointed to run the clinic and will monitor children’s health and assist parents with information on healthy living for Ni-Vanuatu families including diet, hygiene and children reaching their milestones.
Chairman of the Salter Foundation John Salter’s, Nurse Junko Saito and Paul Alex Hetyey, Principal of Central School, Port Vila.
First One Thousand Days Project in Vanuatu
In Vanuatu, nearly one in three children suffers from stunting; a chronic form of undernutrition which results from poor feeding practices, repeated infections, and inadequate consumption of key micronutrients which enable the child’s body and brain to properly develop. Stunting indicates that a child is failing to thrive, and the effects of stunting – which include impaired brain development, lower IQ, weakened immune systems, and greater risk of cancer and diabetes later in life – are irreversible.
Though stunting is irreversible, it is preventable by improving nutrition for both mothers and children during the first 1,000 days of life: from conception through to the child’s second birthday. This 1,000-day ‘window of opportunity’ has a significant impact on the child’s ability to grow, learn, and thrive.
Save the Children is currently implementing a four-year program designed to reduce stunting in Vanuatu. Given the various amounts of development projects in Vanuatu, it is critical that this project is designed based on strong evidence and data.
This year, we focussed on implementing key program design activities including a rigorous household survey to establish baseline levels of health and nutrition knowledge and practices, such as breastfeeding, child feeding, and hygiene. We also conducted qualitative research to understand factors influencing the adoption of these practices.
Such factors may include social norms, access to food, or government policies. Findings from these surveys are currently being used to refine project activities to ensure their maximum relevance to the Vanuatu context, and, ultimately be as impactful as possible. This year also focused on training Save the Children national staff and Ministry of Health partners to implement high quality nutrition activities in our target communities.
Another project funded through Save the Children by the Salter Foundation is the Nowa Nowa Kindergarten.
Nowa Nowa Kindergarten in Gippsland, Victoria
The Nowa Nowa Kindergarten provides affordable and accessible preschool education for young children from Lake Tyers and Lakes Entrance in East Gippsland who may otherwise miss out, with a focus on Aboriginal children. Through donations, a free bus service for children and their families to and from the kindergarten, deliver a culturally-safe curriculum, and provide family support and emergency support services as required. These extra supports are critically important to promote access and participation for children experiencing vulnerability.
The Smith Family
Scholarships for Disadvantaged Children
The Salter Foundation’s grant has provided 16 scholarships to children from Prep to Year 12.
The Smith Family is the largest Australian children’s education charity helping young Australians in need to succeed at school, so they can create better futures for themselves.
Today, one in six children and young people are living in poverty across Australia*, where even life’s basics are hard to come by. When families are experiencing financial disadvantage, children can fall behind in their learning, leaving them more vulnerable to experiencing hardship themselves later in life.
Investing in the education of a disadvantaged child today has long-term benefits for them, their families and the communities they live in. By supporting a child in need to participate fully in their education, they can achieve better life outcomes overall.