Kirralee Nicolle
6 April 2023
Members of a Mornington Peninsula parish have raised enough money to provide seven wheelchairs to children with disabilities across the world.
St Andrew’s Somerville recently partnered with Rotary and Wheelchairs for Kids, a not-for-profit organisation which provides the gift of mobility to children in impoverished or underprivileged parts of the world. Church members regularly donate to charitable causes with proceeds from their op shop, with The Fred Hollows Foundation, assistance dog training and veteran needs all having recently received donations from the church.
Church member Jan Dayton said the strategy was to ask op shop customers to donate and the church would match their donations. Between these funds and the proceeds from a raffle, they managed to raise a total of $1750.
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“Everybody was delighted with that response as you could imagine, but it’s really thanks to the community for backing us with this and also having the money from proceeds we were able to match dollar for dollar,” Ms Dayton said.
Ms Dayton said the congregation prioritised charitable causes because of their team atmosphere, community focus and emphasis on prayer.
“It’s a very unusual church community I feel because you walk in and you’re made to feel very welcome,” she said. “We have people come in [to the op shop] and chat and sometimes we’ll just sit down and have a talk to people who need companionship.”
You can find out more about Wheelchairs for Kids by visiting wheelchairsforkids.org.
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