By Mikayla van Loon
The incredible generosity of a group of crafters at Tudor Village continues to deliver in supporting local charities and volunteer organisations.
Making all varieties of items, knitted, crocheted, quilted and sewed, craft group president Sharyn McCrae said all money made is divided between charities.
“A lot of what we make is donated. We’ll often come into our cupboards and there’ll be a heap of stuff provided and that inspires us to do something else and make something else. So all of our proceeds go to charities,” she said.
On Thursday 9 November the craft group welcomed Stable One’s Dr David Wilson to present a cheque of $500 to the homelessness support charity.
“[Our vice president Wendy] had heard David speak a couple of times and she presented that to the committee,” Ms McCrae said.
“Stable One was a new one for us but something we felt quite connected to, particularly because we looked at the different forms of homelessness.
“It’s not just that image of someone sitting in a doorway, it’s women who aren’t safe in their home so they leave their home with their kids and Stable One does all that and it does it here in the Yarra Valley.”
Stable One volunteer consultant Dr Wilson said it was incredibly humbling to be invited to accept the donation.
“It’s absolutely amazing that this craft group has raised that amount of money and we feel, at Stable One, very humbled to receive a gift,” he said.
“There really are some good people in this world and I think this is indicative of that.”
Dr Wilson said the funds will most likely go towards supporting the regular Stable One programs, especially the Winter Shelter.
“The Winter Shelter program is across the 13 weeks of winter, where various churches in the Yarra Valley open up their buildings for up to 10 guests, so people who are experiencing homelessness have a place to eat dinner and then sleep and then eat breakfast the next morning,” he said.
“And that takes a lot of money because there’s no cost that the homeless people have to wear, sso funds like this usually go to support that program.”
Picking charities to donate to usually comes from a desire of supporting local and “what we can impact in our local community”.
That’s why Wandin CFA fire brigade will be the next organisation to receive $500 from the group.
“We’ve given to other fire brigades but we haven’t done Wandin in a while. So we do the ones that are local, so Lilydale has got a lot from us over the years and they will again but we want to share it around,” Ms McCrae said.
Aside from being a group with the primary focus of fundraising, Ms McCrae said the social environment created is just as important.
“Once a fortnight seems to be a healthy, happy amount but we’ll pop in and out of each other’s homes without being in each other’s pockets and we like doing the crafts but it’s way more than that,” she said.
The next big item on the agenda is the Christmas market at the end of November where the craft group will be selling items in the library at the Tudor Village community centre.
