Our stories

Mum in custody Mandy* knew her mother was struggling with the cost of looking after her children, so she reached out to our team to help. 

Mandy completed our Bringing Up Great Kids parenting program and had a good rapport with our team.

Her children also enjoy spending quality time with Mandy every week in our in custody Playgroup program, and the family are close.

Mandy was upset, however, that she couldn’t be with the children at home and support her family. 

So she did what she could and asked our team to please check in on them. 

The SHINE for Kids team called Mandy’s mother, Gail*, the children’s grandmother, to see if she needed help.

“It always feels great to be able to give our clients the support they need during hard times,”

 

Gail was relieved to speak with someone about how difficult it had been and told us she was receiving no financial support.

Gail was managing as best she could, but with school returning soon, she didn’t know how to afford a new school uniform and a bag for the youngest child, who was starting kindergarten that year. 

Our team immediately sourced food relief and other essential items for the family, arranged the purchase of a new uniform, and went to the house to deliver them to a very grateful Gail. 

Back at the centre, Mandy was thankful to our team and said she was so happy that her youngest child would start school in a new uniform and feeling good about themselves. 

“It always feels great to be able to give our clients the support they need during hard times,” said our team. 

*Names and images changed to protect program participants’ privacy.