2024 HITsa Charitable Fund Donations
We are very proud to continue our support of South Australian charities,
with the following recipients of our 2024 donations:
RufUs SA Limited
RufUs Charity provides a unique and valuable service to the members of the Greater Adelaide and South Australian community,
Currently, RufUs Charity provides vulnerable members of the community, specifically, the recently homeless and victims of domestic violence and others, with the opportunity to “help create a fresh start’”, by providing and delivering furniture and household items including whitegoods, to enable people to rebuild their lives, with a degree of dignity.
RufUs sources furniture, whitegoods and household items from donations offered to us from the community. This becomes a WIN WIN situation, as people in the community have many useful and serviceable items, too good for landfill and equally there are people that do not have or cannot afford to purchase, so Rufus acts as a ‘go between’ those who have and those who have not.
RufUs Charity works on a referral basis, from social workers and support agencies, who have come to rely on Rufus as a source of household items to support their clients with.
RufUs is known in the helping community as being reliable, providing items in good clean condition, providing over and above the requested items and delivering it with a smile and a positive outlook.
On average, over the past few years, we have supported well over 300 families each year and the demand is ever growing. We are proudly 100% volunteer run and receive no Government funding, yet through the generosity of organizations like HITsa and many others in the community and business circles, we are able to be self funded.
RufUs has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 2011 to the well known and reliable service that it has become. With continued support from the business nexus and general community, Rufus will be able to maintain and enhance its current service and provide a much needed service to South Australia.
Women’s Community Centre of SA Inc
WCCSA was born out of the determination of a group of women from the Stepney area who wanted to make a difference in the lives of other women as way to honour the very first International Women’s Day in 1975. Their decision to have a community meeting place for women was a result of their 700 door-knocking consultation of women in the aera. The women who were consulted all expressed the need for a place to meet with other women outside of their homes. With the generosity of St Peters Council, the Stepney Women’s Centre became a reality and the meeting place for these women.
While women’s lives have vastly changed in many ways in the four decades since the Centre’s inception, women’s need to met and connect with one another outside of their homes has not changed but increased. Women who have experienced trauma such as domestic violence, life changing illness, elder abuse, bullying, poverty, homelessness and social/cultural isolation are often seeking a safe place to socialise and improve their mental health and wellbeing, to learn new skills and spread their wings again. Hence, WCCSA plays the role of nurturing resilience in these women.
WCCSA offers many activities at very affordable prices or free of cost. Current offering include gardening, cooking, exercise, creative art, healing and meditation. It also boasts a very affordable OpShop and healthy meals cooked with love. All of which are often given free of cost to those in need. The Centre also distributes free bread and fresh produce to the community collected as rescue food from local vendors. WCCSA is self funded and generates its income through the Opshop, meals, workshops, donations and fund raisiing events. The Centre is run by women volunteers who grow self confidence, create lasting friendships, learn technical and other life skills, all in the process of giving back to the community.
This project aims to help job seekers better prepare themselves in applying for positions and navigating subsequent interviews.
The “Jobs Café” concept (there is no physical Jobs Café) evolved at Hopes Café, Clayton Church, Beulah Park, South Australia as a response to the significant number of those visitors who were demoralised by constant rejection in their efforts to secure work. And the recognition that in our community the establishment and maintenance of a person’s dignity is tied to being employed.
The project began as a stand-alone exercise in late August 2019. To date there are 1015 job-seeking registrants (people from diverse cultures, refugees, migrants, homeless persons, those differently-abled, men and women, old and young…) and 381 have secured positions….plus a network of 665 supporters (including members of the marvelous Circle of Friends Association), all contributing at various levels.
Jobs Café is not a Job Agency per se… in supporting the job seeker’s own efforts to identify roles, it also uses its networks to add possible opportunities and then encourages and assists the job seeker in pursuing and securing them. The exercise requires significant self-help on the part of the job seeker, but working together success has every chance. Jobs Café is independent, purely voluntary and informal in its activity: there is limited external funding** of Jobs Café and no connection with the bureaucracy….it simply seeks to help in this particular area of community need.
Activity is now largely based at Cibo, The Avenues Shopping Centre corner of Payneham Road and Nelson Street, Stepney. Each new job seeker is asked to join the Coordinator for a coffee and a chat: this face to face meeting is important in establishing trust and reducing risk for all involved as we work together in pursuing employment opportunities.
“The Last Tuesday of the Month” 5.00 – 7.00pm is an evening of some formality (a job seeking topic, sector speakers, success stories) and networking activities: attendance is free and has averaged 50 persons at each event.
And for those seeking to participate and tap into what is being offered there is only one simple requisite: “Just walk through the virtual door of Jobs Café”!
A not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to improve the quality of life of people living with the challenges of ageing and disabilities through dedication to designing and making innovative aids and equipment which are not commercially available. For 44 years TADSA has been providing services of a unique nature by leveraging the time and skills of technical volunteers and our work falls into the following categories:
- the design and manufacture of aids and equipment which are not otherwise available.
- the modification of existing devices to satisfy a specific need.
- the provision of specialist technical advice to clients, service recipients and those concerned with a recipient’s welfare regarding equipment and or its modifications; and
- referrals, where appropriate, to other services and sources of equipment.
- The Freedom Wheels program (adaptable bikes and trikes for inclusive sport and recreation)
Volunteering is the backbone of TADSA. Without any government funding we rely on volunteers to support governance, technical operations, finance, marketing, communications and fundraising. Currently we have 37 Technical Volunteers, 8 Governance Volunteers and 1 Finance Volunteer supported by 1 paid General Manager 0.7FTE. Without volunteers, TADSA would not be able to continue to provide bespoke assistive technology solutions for South Australian in need.
Find us on facebook here
Seeds of Affinity Pathways for Women Inc
We are continuing our support of this essential support organisation from 2023. Seeds of Affinity support women with the lived experience of prison to re-integrate into their communities. They offer friendship, a sense of community and a range of women-centred and peer-led programs to support women transitioning from prison back in their communities. Many of the women Seeds of Affinity support are vulnerable and have significant and ongoing experiences of trauma. Learning programs include life skills in cooking, budgeting, health and wellbeing, as well as pathways to employment programs that build technology, hospitality and business skills through a social enterprise. Women completing Seeds of Affinity learning programs often go on to complete formal vocational education courses having developed their confidence and communication skills in safe, accepting and supported learning environment, enhancing their employment and therefore life opportunities.
Please take a few moments to watch this video to meet Seeds of Affinity and it’s founder, Linda Fisk. https://learningchangeslives.org.au/seeds-of-affinity/
