News from the House....
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Karinya News - August 2022
Dear Friends of Karinya
Welcome to Spring! (and a fond farewell to Winter!)
The sighs of our community welcoming Spring can be heard throughout the Region! It has been a Winter of challenge in many ways, and at Karinya, like many reading this eNewsletter, the first hints of Spring, the warmth in the air with the freshness and colour of the buds and blossoms are welcome indeed.
This September, we invite you to join us in celebrating every woman we have walked alongside since opening the doors on 29 September 1997. 25 Years of service for women in our community. Share this newsletter with friends and family, make a donation, come to the Gala, support the Mercy Walk for Women, or send us your image if you are a supporter (to include in our Village virtual wall).
The Spring Gala Dinner is fully booked and we look forward to celebrating with many of the Karinya Family, with tables booked by current Karinya Team members - staff, volunteers and committee, as well as many of our funding partners and Friends of Karinya.
During September, you can Walk for Women, celebrating the women who inspire you and supporting women impacted by violence and structural inequities. Karinya supports around 200 women each year. This year, we hope to see 200 walkers, one walker for each woman. Sign up to walk anytime during September, to walk at least 23 kilometers. We ask each walker to raise at least $200. You can choose your way to walk for the women who inspire you - over many walks or all in one go (the original way!). To take the challenge, click on the link below. (At the time of issue, 33 walkers had signed up and raised $2,200 so far - which will be matched!). You can also read about the Mercy Walk as featured in The Riot-ACT this week.
Remember.. All donations to Karinya House during September, every year, are matched by our pledged Corporate Partners. The matching pool is currently at around $48,000 (pending confirmations).
Comings and Goings...
Since our last print newsletter, there has been a bit of coming and going at Karinya, mostly involving the fabulous Karinya team. A number of the Karinya team have been with us for significant parts of our first 25 years. This is a wonderful statement about working at Karinya House.
It also means, at some point longevity as well as life changes do contribute to a changing in the guard. It seems that 2022 is the year of transition for a few of the team and we have bid farewell and and welcomed others along the way, these past months.
Karinya House - Part of your Business Model
Carrying on from our story last eNewsletter, and certainly last but not least, we acknowledge the support of Christine Waring Millinery. Christine has been a Friend of Karinya for a very long time, since 2010! Donating financially, Karinya also benefited from in-kind gifts. We are not quite certain how many Gala Dinners or other Karinya events have featured one or more of her stunning millinery creations for auction. We have two for this year's Gala Dinner! The wonderful Christine is also a regular volunteer at Roundabout Canberra. We are happy to be the ones who pointed Christine to Roundabout when discussing volunteer opportunities, a recommendation we often make to volunteer enquiries.
Since July 2020, Christine formalised her partnership with Karinya, and donates 20% of annual proceeds of millinery sales, to both Karinya House and Roundabout Canberra. We love this partnership with Christine and we love the fundraising collaboration with a much loved service partner.
Snippets....
Over 2021/22 - Karinya House supported 180 women, with 251 accompanying babies and children. We provided 297 support periods. We supported another 111 Women with short term contact, advice and cross referral. The average support period was 138 days. 7,759 residential bed nights were provided for women, babies and children. The total operating cost were $2.1m. During 2021/22, only 4 women in residence were allocated a safe, accessible and affordable housing property. Some residents chose to exit Karinya as waiting times do become increasingly untenable. We have 4 women (and their children) currently who are ready to exit Karinya, and the only impediment is the lack of safe, affordable and appropriate housing.
Currently we are supporting 41 Women. We have 11 women in residence, with 3 babies due, 5 babies less than 12 months and 10 children. We are fully supporting 17 women in an outreach capacity. 13 women are waiting assessment or being contacted regularly until full casework services are available.
Recently one of the team took a call from a women who said she had heaps of help from Karinya as a 15 year old pregnant woman, 15 years ago. She is offering to support a young family and was wanting to chat about what services we felt would be suitable. She was thankful for the information we provided, and we were thankful for her reaching out.
Another call we received recently, was from a former resident who is still good friends with a current resident. The former resident said on the phone that she knew the current resident was having a tough time and that she wanted to deliver some flowers and chocolates to cheer her up. The former resident delivered a gift which staff passed on. The current resident was very touched by the gift. Karinya House has over the years not only fostered community for women but provides space and time for women to grow friendships and continue to support each other beyond Karinya House.
(In a sadly rare occurrence at present), one of the women we are supporting in an outreach capacity was allocated a housing property which was affordable, safe and accessible to her. She delivered a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates to Karinya to thank Karinya for the support in seeing her and her family through to this wonderful point.
Celebrate 25 Years of Service and Double your Impact!
September, our anniversary month, is always a month of celebration.
We have walked alongside 2,620 unique women during over the past 25 years, supporting them, and more often their children and families also. 11,200 periods of support have been provided. This includes multiple support periods for women, active support for babies, children or other family members and also short support periods for incoming referrals, who are redirected with care to more appropriate services. 78,787 residential bed nights have been provided over the past 25 years. 568,769 hours of support, walking alongside women over this time. On average, an investment of $9,300 to support each woman over the past 25 years, has been made. The return on this investment in individual lives is inestimable. The cost per hour of service in 2021/22 was $65 per hour.
Every donation we receive has made and will make a difference. During September 2022, every donation will be matched. (Up to a matched giving fund of $48,000.)
We thank our corporate partners who have renewed their funding pledge for 2022/23 as part of our annual matched giving appeal.
Memberships Now Due
Are you a Member of the Karinya House Home for Mothers and Babies Incorporated Association?
Karinya House Association Membership for 2022/23 is now due. Membership is $20 per year. ($1 joining fee for new members).
As a Member of the Association, you will receive our regular eNewsletter. You will also be invited to events and our Annual General Meeting (AGM). New members are welcome.
We look forward to walking with you alongside the mothers and babies of the Canberra community.
We give thanks ....
To St Edmund's College Canberra for all their fundraising ventures during 2022 to support Karinya House. We loved seeing the Karinya Logo on the heritage round jersey. 💙
To Beyond Bank 💜 This year we received our first annual donation from Beyond Bank’s Community Reward Program. Supporters/Members like you have made that possible, and we are so glad you’ve helped us by saving in a community reward account. Beyond Bank proudly supports not only Karinya House, but is for and with our community as a certified B-Corporation, supporting many community organisations. You can open an account with Beyond Bank today, save for yourself, and support Karinya. Find out more
To all of you. Our village. We thank and celebrate you all.
#supportingwomen #standingalongside #ourvillage #ourcommunity
We acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Wiradjuri people, and other traditional custodians of the lands across which we work and live. We pay respect to Indigenous Elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty has never been ceded. It always was and always will be, Aboriginal land.
