By Mikayla van Loon
The Rotary Club of Lilydale (RCL) was able to say thank you this week to all the people involved in its 2022 Wishing Tree project that helped provide hundreds gifts to children in need.
At its regular meeting on Tuesday 28 February, RCL hosted a number of guests from the businesses who gathered gifts to present them with certificates of appreciation.
“Local businesses, organisations and club members, all came together to make this project so very successful. Rotary Lilydale could not have achieved such a wonderful outcome without such collaborative support,” RCL president Jenny Selway said.
“The generosity of everybody resulted in 1000 Christmas gifts being donated and $1,930 worth of gift cards being donated. A wonderful result I’m sure you will agree and it was way beyond anybody’s expectations.”
As two of the receiving organisations, Anchor and Yarra Ranges Proactive Policing Unit were extremely grateful to be given the opportunity to meet and thank the people who made the young people’s lives they support all the more bright.
“What happened late last year with the Giving Tree was something we hadn’t seen at Anchor in all those many years,” Anchor CEO Heidi Tucker said.
“I think what people don’t realise is people who are homeless or are disadvantaged feel like they’re left behind, they feel like no cares much about them and by receiving these gifts and us throwing them a party, those people…really felt as though people cared about them.”
With around 60 families in transitional housing and as the responsible body for homelessness in the Yarra Ranges, Anchor Youth and Homelessness Services manager Peter Dinsdale said while a beautiful part of the east, there is also a lot of disadvantage in the region.
“Christmas is normally the reminder [of a time when families were happy or together] so it’s a particularly hard time but when we can do this and give presents, it just makes sure they’re not the ones missing out,” he said.
For Yarra Ranges Crime Prevention Officer, Leading Senior Constable Linda Hancock getting to take the presents to young people who might have had a negative experience with police was really great.
“They don’t always want to open the door when they see police in uniform but when you’re carrying a big box of toys, we were very welcome and they were very grateful, ‘oh police are doing this’. So that was nice for us,” she said.
Because many of the schools were closed by the time Linda received the vouchers, she began handing them out last week to 11 local schools.
“We’re just about to finish doing that and just arriving at the school and explaining the project and why we’re there, the smiles and how grateful [they are] and [the] ‘this is fantastic, you’ve thought of us’.”
