Warwick Friendly Society is pleased to announce this year’s Christmas Giving Programme, which encourages members to choose how the Society’s yearly Christmas Donation is distributed.
The Warwick Friendly Society was founded in 1908 to support members of the Warwick district.
It is fitting therefore that the charities our staff have nominated for the Society Christmas Giving Programme have a focus on the community as a whole in these trying times.
Warwick BUSHkids, Warwick Safe Haven, and Dolly’s Dream are the three organisations & charities that Warwick Friendly Society will highlight during the shopping period up to Christmas.
BUSHkids is a not-for-profit community organisation that has been supporting Queensland families for over 80 years.
BUSHkids specialises in providing free preventative and early intervention allied health care for children and families.
Our multi-disciplinary team in Warwick comprise of:
- Occupational Therapist
- Psychologist
- Speech Pathologist
- Family Health Support Worker
BUSHkids specifically aims to help disadvantaged children who are at risk of poor health, educational or social outcomes, reach their full potential.
We provide expert advice and education for families, and individual and group therapy for children to overcome issues such as communication difficulties, behavioural problems, and anxiety.
In addition to individual therapy sessions, a child coming to the Warwick centre may also be offered to participate in groups targeting some of their skills in a fun and social environment.
Groups offered are:-
Child-focused
- Social skills groups
- Gross and fine motor skills groups
- Sensory processing and self-regulation
- Literacy and handwriting groups
Parent-focused
- Positive parenting programs
- Parent information groups
- Emotional-Regulation parent education group
- Toileting parent education sessions and workshops
BUSHkids is very excited to announce in early 2023 construction will commence on a nature play area at the Warwick centre.
The area will provide children and families visiting the centre for support with an outdoor setting for therapy, and where they can engage in unstructured play activities involving nature.
The area will include vegetable and herb gardens, mud pits, a dry creek bed, meandering deco pathways, and a yarning circle.
Warwick Safe Haven Inc consists of a volunteer incorporated committee – with a wider
community membership – who at present meet once per month in Warwick. Our service is
to support domestic violence recovery and prevention throughout the whole of the
Southern Downs. We are totally community funded.
To this point in time, our strategies have included:
❖ DV emergency support cards, updated annually and distributed widely through
networks including professional, medical, community businesses/ organizations,
personal service and others.
❖ Formally supporting two service providers in our region financially for practical
needs as specified for Domestic Violence clients and their families on the Southern
Downs.
-DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACTION CENTRE: For practical safety needs at home and at
times for travel vouchers, assistance with removal costs etc.
-LIGHTHOUSE COMMUNITY CENTRE: For emergency short term motel accomodation
costs, other occasional expenses for urgent requirements by DV clients
❖ Hosting workshops for service providers and community on various aspects of
domestic and family violence education/awareness
❖ Hosting community events ( eg annual Candle Lighting Ceremony, breakfasts) to
raise awareness and encourage personal empowerment.
❖ Keeping an active presence in local interagency networks
❖ Supporting local professional agencies by hosting targeted network meetings
❖ Keeping a profile in local media publications and social media ( Facebook)
❖ N.B. while Warwick Safe Haven Inc was originally convened to establish and manage
locally a short term leased ‘safe house’ for women and children escaping domestic
violence, this service ceased a few years ago
Dolly’s Dream is committed to changing the culture of bullying by addressing the impact of bullying, anxiety, depression and youth suicide through education and direct support to young people and families.
Through our work at Dolly’s Dream we currently:
- support schools with our eSmart framework, workshops and kindness activities
- speak directly to parents through our newsletters, advice columns and Parent Hub portal
- provide online products to families, helping with those really important conversations
- assist young people via our workshops, digital products and through our advocacy efforts
- commit to supporting the wider community, particularly those in rural and regional areas, by providing a free counselling service.
More information can be found here: https://dollysdream.org.au/what-we-do/
How it will work
- With each transaction in-store (no minimum spends and can be from any department), members will receive a token (must be a current member)
- Choose which charity you would like to support from the on-counter display
- Pop your token in the appropriate box
Donation
$3000 will be distributed between the three charities according to the proportion of tokens in the boxes. These funds will be distributed during January 2023.
Conditions
*For every transaction made in-store, each member will receive one promotional token (limit of 1 token per transaction). Place the token in the entry box on the counter, selecting the individual charity that you wish to support. Warwick Friendly Society will make a charitable donation to each of the three charities at the end of the promotion, based on the proportion of tokens contributed to each charity. The total donation will be AUD$3,000. Christmas Giving Programme Promotion runs from 28/11/22–19/12/22.