May 2010
Our fourth annual Foundation Day has again achieved outstanding results, with all properties successfully sold to raise $116,018 to support our local communities. Foundation Day is the major fundraiser of The Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation, whereby each of our eight offices donates the professional fee from one auction to a local charity of their choice.
The following shows a breakdown of where the funds were distributed:
Ascot Vale office – Wingate Avenue Community Centre $11,890
Brunswick office – Brunswick Secondary College $11,010
Carlton North office – Sorghum Sisters $21,200
Essendon office – Royal Children’s Hospital Neuroscience Ward $12,450
Fitzroy office – Koorie Heritage Trust $20,000
Northcote office – HeartKids 16,668
Pascoe Vale office – Pascoe Vale South Uniting Church Kindergarten $7,600
Preston office – Ruthven Secondary College $15,200
This month we also contributed $500 towards the Fred Hollows Foundation, which works with Australia’s Indigenous population in the areas of vision and health. The money we’ve donated will support The Eye Ball 2010 event at Crown Palladium, with all funds raised staying in Australia to benefit Vision 2020 – the right to sight.
Additionally, we supported a funding request from Arts Project Australia to assist with a new Animation Booth. Our $1,100 grant has been donated to fund their animation program that supports people with intellectual disabilities in producing animated short films to tell a story and develop their written, visual and cognitive skills. We received a lovely thank you letter and are very much looking forward to visiting the Arts Project studio in Northcote when the Animation Booth is complete.
April 2010
Yarra Jets Soccer Club based in Clifton Hill works closely with Jesuit Social Services and the Centre for Multicultural Youth to facilitate the inclusion of players from the neighboring housing estates. They applied to the Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation for $2,000 to assist with transportation to and from games and training for 30 refugee children and we were more than happy to support this application.
The Foundation has been working with St Marks Fitzroy for a number of years and this month donated $7,300 to assist them to build floor to ceiling storage cupboards which will better enable them to serve the homeless and disadvantaged within the community of Fitzroy and surrounds, particularly when planning ahead for their Christmas Parcel Appeal.
The Foundation rounded off the month’s activities by making a $1,000 commitment to sponsor a staff member participating in the MS Walk/Fun run and to also donate an auction item to the MS Research Gala Ball.
March 2010
When second is better than first….
For the second time, Nelson Alexander’s Charitable Foundation has won the prestigious Community Service Award, whilst representing Victoria at this year’s National Real Estate Awards for Excellence, announced in Adelaide this month.
At Nelson Alexander, we are especially proud of our community service program, which supports many worthwhile causes within our local community.
This achievement reflects the ongoing commitment of our staff, whose important contributions have made our Charitable Foundation the inspiring success it is today.
February 2010
After a long summer break the committee of the Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation re-convened in mid February to take stock of another successful year in supporting our local communities and to discuss the way forward in 2010.
We discussed a number of proposals from a variety of community groups, and funds were released to the following organisations that had received our support in the past. “The Friends of Sammy Joe Foundation” received funds to assist in the building of a community house, we purchased two children’s sports wheelchairs via Wheelchair Sports Victoria and we became a Gold sponsor of the Safety House programme in the Northcote area.
We also elected to consolidate our long standing relationship with “Redkite” by once again committing our involvement in their corporate quiz night. This event is their major fundraiser and enables the continued support of families dealing with childhood cancers.
November & December 2009
Continuing on from the success of last month’s Melbourne Marathon experience a number of staff members competed in the 15km Great Australian Run, they were sponsored in their endeavours by their fellow staff and managed to raise $975.00 for the work of the Foundation.
A number of staff family members received funding support, with $1000 gifted to a student attending The World Challenge in Thailand and Cambodia which will enable her to experience a new culture and to assist others in a developing environment. The family of an Essendon staff member who lost everything in a house fire was assisted with a donation to replace lost items.
As the year drew to an end we discussed how we could best assist those in our communities in the lead up to Christmas. We decided to support a variety of organisations that work at a grass root level with those that do not often find the means by which to celebrate the festive season.
We supported the work of Fareshare, who capture food destined for landfill and prepare healthy meals in their kitchen in Richmond to distribute across metropolitan Melbourne, St Vincent De Paul soup van in Collingwood received funds to enable them to buy chickens to add to their Christmas Day lunch and the Salvation Army received a donation of food and toys. Support was also once again given to both the Immune Deficiencies Foundation and Variety Australia who both host special needs and disadvantaged children to attend Christmas variety performances.
October 2009
A team of 50 staff members, family and friends participated in the Melbourne Marathon held on Sunday 11th October. This not only gave us the opportunity to improve our fitness levels but also experience walking on the hallowed turf of the MCG whilst raising much needed funds for the “Cerebral Palsy Education Centre”. Our involvement in the Melbourne Marathon provided a donation of $2,800 to the Education Centre.
We were approached by The Lions Club of Melbourne Markets to once again support the World of Magic performance that they co-ordinate for special needs children. We decided to increase our sponsorship from the previous year and enabled 20 children to attend this performance.
The REIV Awards for Excellence were held at the end of this month and we were once again extremely honoured to be recognised in the area of community service for the third consecutive year.
September 2009
The Foundation purchased an artwork produced by The Cambodian Children’s Painting Project which offers support to some of the poorest children in Sihanoukville, Cambodia by providing them with opportunities to break the cycle of poverty. The framed artwork will be presented to a local charity as a fundraising item, therefore enabling us to support both our international and local communities.
A member of staff from our Essendon office drew our attention to the work conducted by the “Aussie Hands Foundation” who support and provide information to parents and children afflicted with hand differences. The Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation sent a donation of $1,000 to assist them in continuing their valuable work in this area.
August 2009
The Foundation continued its involvement with Redkite, who provide a range of resources and emotional support services for children and their families throughout their cancer treatment. The Redkite Corporate Quiz which was held in August raised $113,500 towards this work and we once again acted as the auction sponsor for the evening, with 10 members of our committee attending and pitting their knowledge against Melbourne’s corporate community. Along with our commitment as the events auction sponsor we made a donation of $1500 towards providing telephone and email support services, just a small part of the work that Redkite conducts.
The Foundation committee also organised a fundraising BBQ which was held on a sunny afternoon at our Brunswick office and was well supported by many Nelson Alexander staff members.
July 2009
The Foundation has once again thrown its support behind the “Warwick Foundation” which was launched in 2008 as the only not-for-profit organisation supporting young adults, 18 – 40 years, living with cancer. We will act as a bronze sponsor for their Gala Fundraiser “In my Shoes” on Friday the 9th of October, along with supplying community notice boards to advertise the event and an auctioneer to auction the celebrity shoes donated by the likes of Toni Collette, Eric Bana, Jimmy Barnes, Cathy Freeman and Greg Norman.
The Anne Sgro Children’s Centre in Coburg received 3 gift hampers to support their annual Christmas raffle and The Compass Club-House in Northcote which works with young adults with an acquired brain injury received $1500 to assist with the purchase of a laptop and data projector to enable club members to instigate an education program in local schools in the Darebin area about acquired brain injury.
June 2009
A significantly quieter month for the Foundation after the success of “Foundation Day”. We offered support to comedian Dave Grant who has entertained us on a number of occasions at our Nelson Alexander monthly breakfast meeting with a donation after his recent cancer diagnosis.
May 2009
Saturday May 30th was Nelson Alexander’s third annual Foundation Day, were each of our eight offices came together and donated the professional fee from one of their auctions to their local community. It once again achieved outstanding results, with all properties successfully selling to generate $111,022 to benefit the following worthy charities:
Ascot Vale Special School
Don Bosco Youth Centre & Hostel
St Mary’s House of Welcome
Moonee Valley Foundation
Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces
Fareshare
Interchange North West Inc
HeartKids
In addition to Foundation Day we also distributed funds to the Glenroy Specialist School to enable them to purchase $1,000 worth of new books and DVD’s for the school library.
Sporting memorabilia, in the form of a framed Melbourne Football jumper signed by the current team was provided to the Motor Neurone Association to auction at a fundraising event. This is the second year we have been associated with this event and look forward to our continued support of this organisation.
Orana Family Services who provide residential care for at risk children received $1,500 to go towards taking ten children aged 6 to 12 years on a holiday to the Gold Coast. These children rarely experience family outings or holidays and their experience will be documented to include in their “Life Story” boxes that are created during their time in care.
The Foundation has also developed an on-going relationship with “Redkite” who provide support to children and their families living with cancer. We will once again act as the auction sponsor for their major fundraising event, which is a corporate quiz and auction held at the Sofitel Ballroom on Friday 7th August.
The “Friends of Sammy Joe Foundation” offers support to sufferers of rare genetic disorders, one of which causes a critical and painful reaction when exposed to sunlight. The Foundation was set up by Sammy Joe’s mother to unite families that are socially isolated due to this condition and they gratefully received $500 to assist them in their work.
April 2009
The Foundation was once again honored this month to have the contribution that we make to our local communities recognised by our national industry body as a finalist in the “Community Service Award”.
We had a busy month distributing funds to a diverse range of recipients from assisting a single mother of two teenage boys to take a family holiday, the first since the mother was diagnosed with cancer 10 years ago to donating funds to a family effected by both the recent bush fires, they lost their family home and then were once again devastated to loose their rental property in a house fire.
A donation was forwarded to a staff member’s brother who is traveling to Gambia in June to work as a volunteer nurse for the next two years and we supported another staff member who is competing in the MS Walk & Fun Run.
Villa Maria in conjunction with the State Government has commenced work on building a 10 bed residential home in Alphington to house young people with acquired brain injuries. A call went out for additional funding due to an expected shortfall and the Foundation assisted with a $1,000 donation.
A number of staff members enjoyed a day of golf on Sunday the 5th April and at the same time assisted to raise funds for Down Syndrome Victoria. Michael Fry of our Northcote office successfully auctioned off a number of items on their behalf and the Foundation sponsored two holes.
March 2009
A quieter month for the Foundation – support was given to the Rotary Club of Preston for the second consecutive year and their “Circus Quirkus” project which enabled 15 special needs and disadvantaged children from our local area attend this non animal circus spectacular held at the Melbourne Town Hall.
We also donated $500.00 to two of our clients in their quest to raise funds for the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal by participating in the “Run of the Kids”.
February 2009
In response to the tragic bush fire events early in the month, the Foundation directed its attention to assisting the effected communities.
Nelson Alexander staff generously donated suits, cash and products to assist the RSPCA care for both domestic and native animals. The Red Cross received a cash donation of just over $12,000 donated by staff and management to the bush fire appeal. The Foundation also directly assisted a past staff member and the family of a current staff member with a $1,000 donation per family to assist in the re-building of their homes both destroyed in the King Lake and Flowerdale areas. We also received a commitment from a large number of staff to donate blood.
Aside from our commitment to bush fire relief a satisfied client of our Preston office made a donation on behalf of the Foundation to HeartKids.
December 2008
The Foundation committee met in early December to best decide how to assist agencies whose services would be called upon as the Christmas season approached. A decision was made to further assist a number of organisations that we had supported during the year. As such Fareshare and St Mark’s Community Centre received additional support in the form of $5,000 and $2,000 respectively to assist their work with the homeless and disadvantaged in our communities.
Each of our eight offices once again acted as a drop off point for the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal both for staff and the general public. The Foundation also made a decision to supplement each offices collection by purchasing a total of $4,000 in toys and non-perishable food.
The Immune Deficiencies Foundation of Australia also received funding to enable ten children and their carers to attend a Christmas Variety performance.
The Foundation finished the year proud to have distributed a total of $160,000 within our local communities and to be once again the recipient of the REIV’s “Community Service Award”.
November 2008
The Victorian Arabic Social Services successfully applied for funding to support three young people to attend the YMCA Youth Parliament program which provides a forum for them to express their views and concerns in the public domain whilst learning about the parliamentary process.
Funding was also granted to Wheelchair Sports Victoria to sponsor five children to attend the 2008 junior camp to be held in Anglesea in early December. Wheelchair Sports Victoria was established in 1963 and is the leading provider of physical activity opportunities for the disabled community in our state.
Fareshare based in Richmond is dedicated to rescuing unwanted food and supplies a number of agencies such as the Salvation Army with nutritious meals to distribute to the homeless and needy within our communities. We donated $1,000 which will enable them to produce 2,500 meals in their dedicated kitchen facility.
Brunswick South-West Primary School approached us for a grant to assist with the establishment of a kitchen garden at their school. We purchased a $500 Bunning’s voucher to assist them with this project.
November saw a number of our male staff members commit to the Movember initiative, raising funds to improve awareness of male health issues. The Foundation supported each staff member by making a $100 donation on their behalf.
October 2008
Lentil As Anything is a social enterprise that offers a safe and supportive environment to hundreds of people, across 5 locations in Melbourne and were about to open a new premises in Lygon St, when they suffered a devastating fire. A call went out for donations to help with the refit and we were happy to offer $1,000 towards the purchase of equipment or furniture.
St Mark’s Community Centre, established in Fitzroy in 1983, whose mission is to cater to the underprivileged in the inner-city area by offering food distribution, housing assistance and financial support for utility and medical bills were the recipients of a $3,000 donation, along with a supply of non-perishable food products.
The Lions Club of Melbourne Markets approached us to sponsor a group of terminally ill and disabled children to attend a magic show at Festival Hall. We were able to send 10 children along with their careers to this performance.
Anne Sgro Children’s Centre in Coburg contacted us for a donation towards their Christmas raffle and we were pleased to supply three Green Olive hampers.
September 2008
The Margaret Oats Soup Van which has operated on the streets and housing estates of Collingwood and Richmond for the past ten years offering friendship, food and material support to the homeless and marginalised, requested assistance to purchase 6 new flasks in which to carry hot beverages. We were pleased to be able to offer them a $600 donation for this purchase.
Westside Circus based in North Fitzroy successfully applied for funding to extend a pilot program for Indigenous children. The pilot program ran in partnership with the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) on a weekly basis for 10 weeks. The aim of the program was to promote positive change in the life of local Aboriginal children from the East Brunswick area who experience significant hardship in their day to day lives. During the program the young people learnt a range of circus skills and the benefits of cooperative play, group work and about their own potential! The funding will allow the program to operate for a further 10 weeks.
The plight of a Kensington resident was drawn to our attention by the local community. The family lost everything in a house fire and we provided them with a $500 Highpoint gift voucher to replace essential items.
A grassroots fundraising event to support a Moonee Valley family received the support of our Essendon office, who supplied an auctioneer for the evening. The event was a great success and raised approx $6,000. The Charitable Foundation supported the family by purchasing a new fridge.
August 2008
The Starlight Foundation’s “Moments in Life” was hosted at the Melbourne Museum on Saturday 23rd August, were a number of professional photographers donated their time to take family portraits of Starlight Foundation members and their families. The Nelson Alexander Foundation was approached to provide funds to enable car parking at the Museum for the families and volunteers and we were happy to meet the cost, with a donation of $1,000.00.
A donation of $1,500.00 was granted to a Yooralla residential home, which cares for five children with varying disabilities to brighten up the outdoor area and to enable them to purchase play equipment including a trampoline and a sandpit.
With sustainability in mind the Coburg Children’s Centre applied for funding to assist with implementing water saving features such as water tanks and grey water at their facility. The Foundation has offered to assist them in the purchase of a water tank by making a $1,000.00 contribution to the project.
“Living Trees” approached the Foundation to become involved in a joint venture between Greening Australia (Victoria) and the Jewish National Fund of Australia to undertake land restoration in Australia and environmental research in Israel. We have offered to provide staff to assist in a tree planting project, when the opportunity arises.
“Jeans for Genes” day was held during the month of August and we raised $830.00 by gold coin donation from our staff and a sausage sizzle at our Brunswick Office towards this worthy cause.
July 2008
July saw the Foundation assist the Liberian community in Australia to celebrate their independence day by providing a donation of $1,000.00. Each year this small community of approximately 1600 people nationally, come together to celebrate the independence of Liberia and to express their appreciation to the government and people of Australia. This year Melbourne hosted the event with the assistance of Lentil as Anything with a soccer match followed by proceedings at the Collingwood Town Hall featuring traditional food, dress and entertainment.
A donation was made to Sean Egan who is cycling from Perth to Melbourne in September to raise funds, awareness and to honour his father who passed away from Huntington’s Disease.
“Kids Under Cover” which won the Victoria Day award for community and public service in 2008, believes that every young person has the right to a safe and secure home and a sound education, utilised the services of Duncan McPherson and six staff members at their fundraising ball to raise approximately $80,000 through a live auction.
Support was also given to an Essendon playgroup to purchase new equipment and a donation was provided to a local business owner in Carlton North to assist in sending her daughter to attend a sports training camp in Brazil.
June 2008
The Motor Neurone Disease Society held a fundraising ball during the month and made a request to the Foundation to support them by providing an auction item for the evening. We were happy to assist with a framed tracksuit top from the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, signed by Giaan Rooney.
Broadmeadows Disability Services is a community based not for profit organisation which offers services to people with a disability across the North Western Metropolitan area. They received a Hume community grant last year and utilised this grant to fund a number of social activities. They approached the Foundation to assist with support to continue this social programme, “Disco Mania” and we were happy to assist with a $500.00 donation.
The Foundation also provided assistance to the “Moonee Valley Outreach Centre” hamper programme for disadvantaged families by offering a donation of $500.00.
A student from “Our Lady of the Nativity” in Aberfeldie approached the Foundation to sponsor her in the MS Readathon and she was very excited to receive $200.00
May 2008
In May the Foundation received submissions from a wide variety of organisations for funding and we were delighted to assist the following:
The Fitzroy Learning Network received $1500.00 to provide a monthly welcome lunch for their orientation program developed to assist new residents to “Atherton Gardens Estate”.
The Boite, based in Fitzroy, provides support to artists from diverse cultural communities through participation in the arts. They received $2,000.00 to assist with bringing the Mafumani Secondary School choir from the Limpopo province of South Africa to Melbourne, for a series of concerts. The performances will include concerts at Dallas Brooks Hall with 700 students from a variety of inner city, suburban & regional schools along, with 3 performances at BMW Edge with 300 community singers from across Victoria.
The Rotary Club of Preston received funding to enable 40 disadvantaged and special needs children to attend the July 2008 performance of Circus Quirkus, a non-animal, family orientated show.
Football Club Clifton Hill received $1500.00 to assist a group of 11 refugee children to play soccer. The children come from a range of countries including Iran, Ethopia, Sudan and Columbia.
April 2008
This month the Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation proudly accepted the “Community Service Award” from the Real Estate Institute of Australia, the industry’s national body, in recognition of our commitment to our local community.
We also experienced the satisfaction of making a significant contribution to many worthwhile causes by dispersing the funds generated by Foundation Day. This year the Foundation Day auctions, which were held on Saturday 19th April, generated in the vicinity of $87,000. These funds were distributed to the following organisations selected by each of our eight offices:
Ascot Vale Office
Neo Natal Ward, Royal Children’s Hospital
Brunswick & Fitzroy Offices
CERES, East Brunswick
Carlton North Office
Evolve at Typo Station
Essendon Office
Essendon North Primary School & Strathmore Secondary College
Northcote Office
Northcote High School
Pascoe Vale Office
Je Joue Playgroup, Pascoe Vale
Preston Office
HeartKids
Also benefiting this month were the Good Shepherd Youth & Family Services who received funding to purchase 20 new parenting packs, Retina Australia whose fundraising efforts include taking children from various organisations to the movies received $500.00 and the Moonee Valley Magpies who are affiliated with the FIDA (Football Integration Development Association) for intellectually disabled athletes, whose 25 team members were outfitted with new jumpers, drink bottles and a number of footballs.
We also offered support to the family of a child living with Dravet Syndrome, which is a combination of Epilepsy, Autism and Attention Deficit Disorder who received a return economy class air ticket to attend the 2008 professional and family conference to be held in Chicago in August.
March 2008
This month has seen the Charitable Foundation committed to co-coordinating our major fundraiser for the year “Foundation Day”. On April 19th, each of our eight offices will be donating the professional fee from one of their auctions, with the hope of raising $80,000 to benefit the local community through a variety of charities and organisations.
Support was also provided to Diabetes Australia with a $500.00 donation made to assist in diabetes research.
February 2008
The Foundation has had a busy month dispersing funds to a number of local groups including Errol St North Melbourne Primary School which received $1,000 to assist in their 150th celebrations scheduled for May 2008. A donation was also provided to the Royal District Nursing Service which enabled them to purchase a “Chester Chest” for the centre at Essendon to assist with the on site training of their nurses.
The Community Church of St Mark in Clifton Hill received a $5,000 donation to help with the planned restoration works of the Athol Gill Centre, which provides facilities for local community groups including Fintry Bank which provides accommodation and social support for people living with schizophrenia.
The Foundation, as it did in 2007 made a commitment to “Redkite” to act as the auction sponsor for their Corporate Quiz night planned for August, 2008. Redkite supports children and their families living with childhood cancer.
Framed Essendon football jumpers signed by Kevin Sheedy were provided to two organisations for auction at fundraising events. The recipients were “Mary of the Cross Centre” based in Fitzroy who work to assist drug users and their families and the other was the Neonatal Unit at the Royal Children’s Hospital.
February also saw Bill Batcheler of our Fitzroy sales team, take on the challenge of becoming involved with FebFast, which asks people to give up alcohol for the month. Funds raised via sponsorship through family and friends are then distributed to organisations that support young people struggling with substance abuse.
November 2007 - January 2008
The Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation was involved in a number of highly successful events over the Christmas and summer period. Including sponsoring the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal by each of its 8 offices acting as a collection point for gift donations from both staff members and the local community, providing gifts for 125 children and young adults through the Good Shepherd Youth and Family Services centre and also sponsoring 30 children to attend the Variety Christmas party held at the Exhibition Centre in early December.
As part of its ongoing commitment to its younger community, the Foundation provided a cheque for $1,000.00 to the Volga St Kindergarten in Hadfield. This payment provided two new gates to improve the security at the centre.
As a proud supporter of the Arts, the Charitable Foundation produced a banner for Arts Project Australia promoting their current exhibition, along with using a painting by one of their artists for the Nelson Alexander Christmas card.
October 2007
October has seen a very industrious time at the Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation. Gearing up for the Christmas season requires a great deal of preparation. This year, on the Nelson Alexander Christmas card we will be featuring a lovely painting by the artist, Dorothy Berry, a long standing attendee of Arts Project Australia studio in Northcote. Arts Project Australia is a world renowned studio and gallery that encourages and exhibits the work of artists with intellectual disabilities. We will also be running, in conjunction with The Salvation Army, our annual Christmas present appeal, from mid November until Christmas Eve. If you can, when doing a little Christmas shopping, purchase an extra gift and drop it off at any Nelson Alexander office, and we will forward your donation to The Salvation Army in time for Christmas.
September 2007
On Grand Final Eve, Nelson Alexander staff at our Brunswick office hosted a Lunch for Leukaemia Sausage Sizzle. And whilst the weather wasn‘t exactly kind to us, the lunch was a tremendous success with our sincere thanks going to Harwick’s Meat Works and Baker’s Delight, Carlton for their kind donation of sausages and bread. Over $730 was raised in support of The Leukaemia Foundation who care for the 7200 patients diagnosed each year with Leukaemia, Lymphoma, Myeloma or other blood related cancers.
August 2007
In August Nelson Alexander competed in the Redkite Corporate Quiz Night Challenge to help raise some much needed funding For the Redkite Foundation. Children from all major cities and remote locations across Australia are supported by Redkite services coordinated from offices in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. With the continuing support of the community, Redkite aims to further expand services in order to offer equality of care and support to all Australian children coping with childhood cancer.
July 2007
The Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation has given $10,000 to the Education Foundation for their opportunity scholarships program. This money will directly impact the lives of students from low income or disadvantaged families throughout the inner northern suburbs. These Nelson Alexander scholarships will provide opportunities for young people to unlock their true potential by supporting student learning and development, to encourage them to pursue their aspirations in a range of areas.
The foundation were also pleased to assist TLC for Kids with a $1,000 donation to purchase new DVDs and games for their chill-out room, and the Rotary Club of Preston with $3,700 to send 37 children with special needs to Circus Quirkus at the Melbourne Convention Centre.
June 2007
The Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation have recently donated $1,500.00 to Kerekere, an organisation who provide young people with opportunities for sustainable livelihoods. This donation will sponsor a young person‘s involvement in Kerekere‘s youth program “The Art of Coffee Production” where the participant will learn valuable skills at William Angliss and then participate in 5 weeks work experience at Kerekere‘s University of Melbourne site. Profits from Kerekere‘s coffee sales are redistributed to environmental and charitable organisations.
May 2007
The Foundation donated $5,000 to Diabetes Australia as part of the Great Australian Bite, where people are encouraged to hold a healthy lunch or morning tea and collect donations for Diabetes research.
We were also pleased to support the Make-a-Wish Foundation with a $5,000 donation to assist the setup of their Hume branch. This donation will allow them to continue granting wishes for sick children across Melbourne‘s inner northern suburbs.
April 2007
The Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation proudly donated $4,000 to the Good Friday Appeal for the Royal Children‘s Hospital in April. The Good Friday Appeal raised an all time record of $11,788,970.00 this year, this money will be used to purchase medical equipment and fund research projects.
March 2007
The Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation launched it‘s first annual fundraiser“Foundation Day” on Saturday March 31st, where the professional fee from 8 of our auctions was donated to local charities, schools and vital community groups. Foundation Day raised $75,850.00, which has now been distributed throughout our local community!
On Wednesday March 7th, 24 Nelson Alexander employees jumped on Red Cross Shuttle Bus’s, rolled up their sleeves and proudly donated blood as part of our Mobile Blood Donation Day! In addition to supporting the Red Cross in March, the Charitable Foundation donated $2,322.00 to Reclink Australia to assist with their launch of “The Choir Of Hard Knocks” on Wednesday March 7th.
The Choir of Hard knocks is made up of people suffering with problems such as homelessness, mental illness and drug and alcohol related problems, and they are finding that the choir is having a huge impact on their lives and their sense of themselves and contribution to other people. We are proud to continue sponsoring the important work Reclink does in our local community.
February 2007
The Charitable Foundation donated $3,000 to the Eliza Baird Appeal. Eliza Baird was born with a rare genetic skin condition ‘Epidermolysis Bullosa’. The slightest bump can cause her fragile skin to peel and blister and she must always be wrapped in bandages. At the request of the Baird family, the funds donated by the Foundation have been allocated to provide dressings for all the EB sufferers in Victoria, of which there are about twenty severely affected.
December 2006
The Charitable Foundation shared the joy of Christmas with double the fundraising efforts in December 2006! A proud platinum sponsor of the 2006 Variety Christmas Party for Special Kids, the Foundation sponsored 20 children to attend the world’s biggest christmas party for children with special needs. And under the Christmas tree’s in each of our 8 offices staff, friends and family donated toys and tinned food for the Salvation Army to bring festive cheer to many needy families in our communities who would otherwise go without at Christmas time.
September 2006
The Charitable Foundation hosted Lunch for Leukaemia day in the courtyard of our Carlton office. Staff, family and friends enjoyed a heart sausage sizzle thanks to Hardwick‘s Meat Works and Fosters Australia, who kindly donated the sausages and soft drinks. Over $1300 was raised to support The Leukaemia Foundation in caring for the 7200 patients diagnosed each year with Leukaemia, Lymphoma, Myeloma or other blood related cancers.
June 2006
On Friday June 23rd the Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation is proudly supporting Kids Help Line by hosting “Lock up your Boss Day” in each of their 8 offices across the northern suburbs of Melbourne!
Nelson Alexander boss‘s will be locked up in handcuffs and chains for as long as it takes them to raise $500 each in donations for Kids Help Line.
Kids Help Line is Australia‘s only free, confidential and anonymous, 24-hour telephone and online counselling service specifically for kids and they urgently require financial support to sustain the important services they provide young kids within our local communities.
The Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation is proud to support this important cause and invites anyone who feels a little pity for Nelson Alexander management to come on in and make a donation on “Lock up your Boss Day!”
April 2006
The Nelson Alexander Charitable Foundation joined forces with the Salvation Army as a ‘community recycling partner’ and invited staff and customers to clean out their wardrobes, search through their cupboards and un-clutter their bookshelves as a part of “The Great Closet Cleanout”! Bags of donated goods across our 8 office network were collected by the Salvation Army on Friday 28th April to be distributed to needy families in our community via the Salvo‘s network of Family Support Services and Family Stores.
