Karinya News - October 2025

Dear Friends of Karinya

As the weather warms up and the flowers are in full bloom, it is hard to believe that we are so close to the end of another busy year. In recent weeks, our wonderful Care Team have created opportunities for women and their babies to gather together to enjoy the Spring weather. In early October, the Karinya Group program enjoyed an outing to Floriade, which is now an annual tradition, and there have been several BBQs and picnics held onsite to offer women an opportunity to enjoy the sunshine.

We have also been busy preparing our Annual Report for the 2024-25 financial year. This reflective exercise is always a lovely reminder of the individual and collective impact of the day-to-day work undertaken by the team. This year, we reflect on the 138 women who we walked alongside and the 191 children who were in contact with Karinya House via their mother.

Data from across the year also highlights that we have continued to see an increase in the complexity of the circumstances facing women, resulting in longer support periods. Across the 2024-25 year, the average support period for a woman and her children was 177 days, which represents an 8% on last financial year. Across the 12-month period to June 2025, we provided 6991 nights of somewhere safe to sleep.

As always, we acknowledge the hard work and dedication of each of the women we have supported throughout the year, as well as the commitment and generosity of our financial donors, which enables us to deliver this vital service to the Canberra community.

Please note: references to events or appeals below are for the information of all our Friends. If you are a financial Friend of Karinya House, be assured we value the current extent of your financial support, and no additional support from current donors is being sought through the sharing of this news, other than asking you to consider sharing this eNews with friends or family if it may be of interest to them.

2025 Walk for Hope wrap-up

The Karinya House 2025 Walk for Hope was held on Sunday 14th of September. It was a beautiful Spring day and a wonderful reminder of the support that exists for Karinya House within the community.

Thank you to everyone who attended on the day as registered participants, or who donated or contributed to the event in any way. We were joined by more than 550 registered participants.

In total, we raised more than $188,000, which will go directly towards strengthening our service delivery for women and children.

Enormous thanks to our major event partner Doma Group Hotels, and event partners Canberra Southern Cross Club, Elect Printing, Canberra Painting Services, Dak & Co., The Mark Agency and Region Media. We also extend our sincere thanks also to our Matched Giving Partners Successful Alliances, North Belconnen Community Association and Parbery.

We also acknowledge our wonderful group of Fundraising Champions for their hard work, commitment and generosity.

View photos of the event here

Belconnen's Local Hero

We are excited to share that Karinya House's Committee President, Margaret O'Donovan was recently announced as the 2025 Westfield Local Hero for Belconnen.

Margaret was an integral part of Karinya House's founding community group and her vision, passion, and wisdom have been pivotal to the organisation’s establishment and growth over the last 27 years.

In addition to serving on the Committee, Margaret volunteers several hours of time every Wednesday at Karinya House, often delivering baby goods to women across the community, or undertaking any number of other tasks asked of her by the staff.

Thank you, Margaret for everything you do to support Karinya House deliver services to women and their children across the Canberra community. Your generous spirit and humility is an inspiration to us all.

Read the announcement here

Networking Opportunity

Our friends at Shaw and Partners are running a special networking and charity event in support of Karinya House.

Entry to the event is free and will be an opportunity to network with a range of local business and community representatives (and other dear friends of Karinya House), whilst enjoying some lovely hospitality by Deakin & Me.

The event details are below:

Thursday 13th of November

5.30pm for a 6pm start

Deakin & Me, 7 Geils Ct, Deakin ACT, 2600

Canapés and refreshments will be provided, dress code is business attire.

For our loyal Karinya friends, please also note that there is no expectation from Karinya House of attendees contributing any funds on top of your generous and existing support you may already provide us.

If you would like to join us, please RSVP at the link below

Click to RSVP here

Local partnership

In recent weeks we have signed a new partnership agreement with the North Belconnen Community Association. We are so pleased to embark on the next phase in our partnership, which celebrates the shared values of both organisations. We are grateful for the generous support and commitment of NBCA and look forward to sharing more about our partnership in coming weeks.

Snippets....

The following feedback from women over recent weeks highlights the importance of the kindness, care and support of the Karinya House Care Team:

"Thank you so much I can't just stop thanking you all for the support I am getting"

"I am so grateful for everything you have done to help my baby and I. You were our family when our family wasn't there, you supported me when no one supported me, you never judged, even when I wasn't coping ... - you never judged me you only supported me and gave me confidence."

#humansofkarinya #walkingalongsidewomen

Thank You!

Thank you to all the Friends of Karinya who continue to walk alongside with us.

This month we acknowledge the continued support of the Canberra Mothercraft Society who have joined the Karinya village this year with generous grant funding to support Staff Training and our inaugural Women's Independence Fund.

#supportingwomen #standingalongside #ourvillage #ourcommunity

Karinya House is committed to reconciliation. We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land and pay respects to Elders past, present and future. Sovereignty has never been ceded. Always Was, Always Will Be, Aboriginal Land.