By Brendan Rees
Whether it be a tooth brush, a pair of shoes or a blanket, they are some of the basic items many children don’t have when going into foster or emergency care.
But two charities have joined forces in Cranbourne an effort to reach more children in need.
Backpacks 4 Vic Kids (B4VK) in Cranbourne, which provides essential items in the form of a backpack for thousands of displaced kids has teamed up with Four Golden Hearts (FGH) – an organisation which supports charities in Melbourne by providing toiletry packs for families and children doing it tough.
The founder of B4VK Sally Ritter officially welcomed the founder FGH Eliana Dimitriadis into their Cranbourne headquarters on Friday 10 August.
Ms Dimitriadis said she was most grateful for B4VK in offering their space as they would be able to accept larger volumes of donations.
“We have definitely outgrown our garage and need an area to work from in the future which will allow us to help even more members of our community,” she said.
“We look forward to continuing this amazing partnership and now having the means to stretch our wings.”
Ms Dimitriadis added B4VK and FGH first made exchanges of items in June, 2016. “Since then FGH has provided toiletries, colouring books, clothing and a drop off point for B4VK.”
“By working together as a community we can achieve great things and we can help close the gap on disadvantage, poverty and homelessness in our community.”
Ms Ritter said with the recent addition of shelving at their headquarters, she felt it was essential to offer some of that space to FGH.
“Knowing Eliana was looking to move her resources from her home to a more suitable space, and having been a recipient of her generous heart, it just made sense to me,” she said.
“Sharing a space means so much. This means that FGH now has a physical address for larger corporate donations and a more efficient working space.”
Ms Ritter said the two organisations would support each other with their knowledge, skills and resources including volunteers.
“Most importantly, we inspire and motivate each other to do more bring a smile to the faces of hundreds of children.”
