June 2022 Edition
HELLO FROM OUR CEO,
It’s been another jam-packed couple of months at the Foundation with the highlight being the fantastic outcome of our very first Charity Golf Day! The event was a resounding success with us raising $12,000 for our public healthcare services. And whilst nobody managed to hit a Hole-in-One and drive away in a brand new car, the feedback from our players has been very positive and we absolutely cannot wait for our 2023 Golf Day.
Read on to find out how much we raised together at our Mother’s Day Raffle and May Bunnings BBQ. You’ll also learn about our ‘Let’s Make A Difference Together!’ campaign, it’s the perfect way for any community member to make a positive impact to Wyndham’s healthcare services.
As we head to the halfway mark of the year, I want to thank you all for making 2022 so successful to date by supporting us in the many different ways you do. Monetary donations are only one aspect, and we value the time and skills volunteered through our various initiatives. Our knitted goods for babies in the Special Care Unit is a particularly sweet example of many different people taking the time and effort to use their talent to craft gorgeous treasures for newborn babies.
I can’t wait to see the positive impact we continue to make together for the remainder of the year. Read on to find out what we have in store!
Best wishes,
Leanne Down
CEO, Werribee Hospital Foundation
OUR COMMUNITY IMPACT
Palliative Care Unit receive their Gifts of Care
Our 2021 Christmas campaign was dedicated to improving the patient care experience by providing items to enhance their hospital stay experience.
We hope patients in the Palliative Care Unit receive comfort from the personal radios and lamps we delivered recently. Thank you to everyone who donated towards this campaign.
So many snuggly treasures!
We were overwhelmed by the generosity shown by the crafty superstars that donated knitted goods for the babies in the Special Care Unit.
We are grateful to these wonderful people for taking the time to create these cuddly gifts that many a newborn babe will receive warm comfort from.
‘Let’s Make a Difference Together!’
We often meet people that want to make a positive impact but are overwhelmed by knowing how to when there is so much need around us.
At the Foundation we firmly believe that starting close to home is the simplest and most effective way to make a huge impact to the lives of people in your community.
This year we are focusing on building upon the past 3 decades of achievements we have made, and we need your help to make our latest campaign a success. Supporting patient care at Wyndham’s public hospitals always has been, and always will be, our mission.
During our 29 years of operation we have dispersed over $3 million to our local public healthcare services, and we dedicate ourselves to significantly increasing that amount. We need your support to achieve this.
You don’t always plan on a hospital stay, but when you find yourself needing hospital attention, you want to know that you or your loved ones will be cared for by the best qualified people with the best hospital services possible. By continuing your support to the Werribee Hospital Foundation, you’re investing in a system that will continue to do just that. Our ever-growing community needs all the help it can get.
Never forget that every dollar matters. No matter how small your contribution, rest assured that you are working alongside us and making a positive difference to a vital resource for you, your family and your community.
All donations received are 100% dispersed to Wyndham’s public hospital, and any donation over $2 is tax deductible. Please click below to find out more and join us in Making A Difference Together.
Point Cook CWA Helping to keep palliative care patients warm
We are incredibly grateful to the Point Cook Country Women’s Association (CWA) for donating $6,500 to purchase a blanket warmer for palliative care patients in Wyndham. The funds were donated in memory of CWA member Robin Argent’s husband Jack, who passed away in the Palliative Care Ward in early March this year.
Currently the Surgical Ward is where palliative care nurses have to go to fetch a warm blanket for their patients. By the time they return, the blanket has gone cold and no longer providing the comforting warmth required. It’s so wonderful to know that a blanket warmer machine will be situated within the Palliative Care Ward, and this improvement to patient care will be available very soon.
The Foundation would like to thank Point Cook CWA for this act of generosity, and for choosing the Werribee Hospital Foundation to facilitate their wishes. We would also thank the following CWA members for attending our thank you morning tea and presenting us with the big cheque: Sian Day (CWA Treasurer), Robin Argent, Rita Mastin, Chris Mackaness and Linda Baker.
Earlier this year the Foundation hosted the Barefoot Lawn Bowls night to raise funds to purchase a blanket warmer, however we are now in the fortunate position of being able to redistribute those funds towards another hospital resource that is on the wish list. Stay tuned for how that money is used to continue improving the patient care experience for Wyndham.
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THESE RECENT EVENTS
Charity Golf Day was a swinging success!
The Foundation couldn’t be happier with the outcome of our very first Golf Day. 68 players took to the green with the aim to get a hole-in-one and drive home with a brand new car. We raised a whopping $12,000 and look forward to proudly donating 100% of the proceeds to our local public health services.
Congratulations to the team from Capture Recruitment for taking home the trophy!
Thank you to our generous sponsors for making the day a success:
- Game Day Sponsors – M&C Accounting & Find My Real Estate
- Car Sponsor – Werribee & Western Automotive Group
- Gold Sponsors – Resi Ventures & McDonald Legal
- Merchandise Sponsor – Fully Promoted Werribee
- Foundation Sponsor – POWA Care Connections
- Hole-in-One Sign – The Sign Fairy Point Cook
- Jeff Gaul – Ray White Real Estate – for donating his time to run the auction
Thank you to Kooringal Golf Course for hosting us and our volunteers Mel & Jo who braved the cold weather by sitting at the 16th Hole for the entire game to confirm if someone hit a hole-in-one.
And thank you to AFL legend, Doug Hawkins, for entertaining us with his pre-game speech.
Stay tuned for next year’s Golf Day – we have big things in store!
Lucky winner takes home huge Mother’s Day Raffle prize haul
Brooke Allen from Point Cook is the lucky mum that held the winning ticket for our Mother’s Day Raffle.
The raffle raised $2087.96 and we’d like to thank everyone who purchased a ticket. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Maternal and Paediatric Unit at the Werribee Mercy Hospital.
A big thank you to the generous businesses that donated towards our fantastic prize:
99 Bikes
Lancemore Hotels Group
Point of Difference Cleaning Services
Stan Cash
Westend Photography
Jess Catering Services
Bunnings Hoppers Crossing
Sizzling Success
While May is definitely a cold month, we certainly didn’t feel the chill whilst in front of a hot BBQ slinging sausages to a hungry crowd at our recent Bunnings Hoppers Crossing BBQ fundraiser.
Meeting new friends at Werribee Gardening Club
We were thrilled to be invited as a keynote speaker at the recent Werribee Gardening Club presentation night. It was great to meet so many of Wyndham’s keen gardeners, and Lee and Stacey enjoyed filling everyone in on the Foundation’s history and what we aim to achieve for our community.
If any groups or organisations would like Lee to present at their function, please contact us at hello@whf.org.au.
GET INVOLVED IN OUR UPCOMING EVENTS & CAMPAIGNS!
Donation Drive for mental health patients
As we come into the colder months the Mental Health Unit at Werribee Mercy Hospital is in need of clothing items for the Clare Moore Building as unfortunately some patients are admitted without sufficient clothing. We are running a Donation Drive to help them and would love your support. Please see below for a list of clothing and activity items required.
DONATION DROP OFF DAY: Wednesday 29th June between 12-3pm at our office at Suite 22, 7 Bridge Street, Werribee.
Clothing Items needed:
– Unisex NEW tracksuit pants and jumpers/hooded tops, T-shirts. ALL SIZES
– NEW Crop tops, bras, underwear, socks. ALL SIZES.
Activity items such as:
– Tennis balls, basketballs, soccer balls
– Beads for jewellery making
– Mindfulness colour-in books/crossword/puzzle and word search books
– Pencils/Markers
– Jigsaw puzzles
If you would like further information please email hello@whf.org.au
SPOTLIGHT ON OUR SPONSOR
Meet Patience Rabai, CEO of Powa Care Connections
Patience Rabai is one busy lady! She has dreamt of being a businesswoman since she was a child, and to say she’s reached her goal is an understatement.
Read on to find out more about our remarkable Foundation Sponsor.
Thank you to our Foundation Sponsors!
We are really looking forward to continuing making strong connections with the Wyndham business community this year, and we want to thank our current sponsors for their support.
It’s an honour to align with people who share our vision to create healthy and happier lives through high quality health care resources, and our sponsors are essential to our success.
We would like to thank the following businesses for their sponsorship support:
If you would like to find out more about how your business can support Werribee Hospital Foundation please email hello@whf.org.au.
VOLUNTEERS
Wyndham Volunteer Expo
We had a great time at the Wyndham Volunteer Expo on the 14th May at Encore Events Centre. A big thank you to Jodie Engerer from Taurus Legal Management for volunteering to assist at our stall.
Thank you to Wyndham City Council for hosting the event. We really enjoyed meeting our community members and look forward to working with the new volunteers we gained from the expo.
If you would like to find out more about the many different ways you can volunteer with us, we’d love to hear from you at hello@whf.org.au.
Find out all you need to know about volunteering with us!
Would you like to volunteer but don’t know where to start?
Myth: I don’t have the time to volunteer.
Volunteering for the Foundation doesn’t have to take up all of your time. You can volunteer as much or as little as your schedule allows. This may mean you can occasionally volunteer at events that interest you or you can regularly volunteer if you have more time available.
Myth: I don’t have the skills needed to volunteer.
We have a variety of volunteer roles from data entry and administration to helping with events, photography, the list goes on….
Myth: I can’t make much of a difference.
Have you heard the saying “it takes a village to raise a child”? the same statement applies to volunteers. The Foundations volunteers will see the differences they’ve made.
We would love to see you at our Volunteer Info Session on
Wednesday 22nd June from 1pm – 2pm,
at our office at Suite 22, 7 Bridge Street, Werribee.
This is a great chance in a friendly social environment to share ideas on how you can help your community. You’ll have the opportunity to find out all about us, and if you like what you hear, you can join up on the spot!
Numbers are limited so please register your attendance by emailing us at hello@whf.org.au.
Our Volunteers in action!
We don’t know what we would have done without the generous support given by our volunteers in the last couple of busy months.
A HUGE thank you to the following superstars:
Jo McClure and Melissa Hickson for being a monumental help at our Charity Golf Day. They were absolute superstars signing our players in, supervising the 16th Hole during the game to confirm if a Hole-in-One was hit, and helped with our auction by displaying all of the bidding items.
Jodie Engerer for helping at our Wyndham Volunteer Expo stall and enticing future volunteers with information on how they can join us.
Richard Hawkey, Cheryl Coghill, Kathleen French, Melissa Hickson, Joy Solomano, Emma Murnane, Julie McFarlane, Ernie Azzopardi, Leon and his team from Wyndham Rotary for being grill masters at our May Bunnings BBQ and lending a much needed helping hand.
THIS TIME IN HISTORY
This time last year we had the pleasure of gifting the mums who had recently given birth at Werribee Mercy Hospital a Mother’s Day hamper. We loved meeting the precious newborns and chatting to their exhausted but elated mothers.
Pacific Werribee very kindly donated the hampers and we hope the mums enjoyed their goodies.
