For more than 20 years, Gloucester Charities has been helping the Gloucester community in their time of need.
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The registered charity started in January 1994 and was set up by Graham Holstein, as president along with Geoff Teece, Bob Mason, John Skinner, Colin Ware and Terry Hayes.
“I had been helping locals in need for quite a while personally and it was clear that there was a need for an organisation to take this on board and form a proper registered charity to help locals in need,” Graham Holstein said.
The current team at Gloucester Charities includes Ronda Teece, Marie Norris, Helen Parsons, Barbara Stuart, Leonie Benson, Deborah Brooks, Sue Urby and Di Taylor.
“Our mission is that nobody in Gloucester should ever go without food. We work closely with the Bucketts Neighbourhood Centre and we encourage people to go there first if the centre is open and get a referral coupon to come and see us,” president of Gloucester Charities, Ronda Teece said
“We give vouchers on Friday mornings at the Scout Hall. We also help with community projects and made a donation to the Bucketts Neighbourhood Centre’s new wheelchair motor vehicle and other fundraising events.”
Gloucester Charities appreciates the dedication and hard work of the local Rural Fire Service (RFS) in protecting the community and recently gave each of the 13 Gloucester District RFS brigades and the Welfare Chapter a $50 gift card from IGA.
With more than 80 residents as regular clients, Gloucester Charities helps with the provision of food, petrol and pharmacy vouchers (for PBS medications only) and occasional emergencies. Clients come from Gloucester, Barrington, Wards River, Stratford, Bundook, Rookhurst, Barrington Tops, Craven and more.
Possibly the highest profile activity undertaken by Gloucester Charities is the annual Christmas hamper which has been happening for many years.
Gloucester Charities raises the bulk of its funds from the sale of books at the Old Scout Hall, corner Church and Philip Street, Gloucester.
Everyone in Gloucester Charities is a volunteer and they are grateful to the volunteers who maintain and run the book sale and MidCoast Council for allowing the use of the Scout Hall.
