Urgent call for Stewart House donations

A mandatory fire upgrade across Stewart House's site means the charity projects a more than $200,000 loss this year unless significantly more people make donations.

Stewart House fundraising manager Miranda Sears said that every 12 days, 90 children between the ages of 5 and 15 years from public schools across NSW and the ACT spend time in the care of Stewart House.

Children come from diverse backgrounds and are selected because their school principal, in consultation with community service providers, deem they in dire need of a break. Some have recently experienced a period of sorrow or loss. Others have never had a proper holiday and some are victims of poverty, low self-esteem, abuse, neglect or isolation. An invitation to attend Stewart House is extended through local school principals and assessed by regional committees. There is always a waiting list. During the 12-day stay at Stewart House, children are provided with medical, dental and optometric assessments, treatment and health education.

"Teachers and education staff have always been the backbone of Stewart House and today is no exception, however, now is more important than ever with fewer employees signing up and higher proportions of stalwart supporters retiring," Ms Sears said.

"Last year we were in deficit by $35,000 and this year we project a $200,000+ loss because of a major mandatory fire upgrade across the site."

Currently, 7840 DET staff contribute some $800,000 per annum towards running costs at Stewart House.

"Please encourage your colleagues to stand-up in support of Stewart House.

"Even if we were able to simply double the number of supporters to 15,000 Department of Education and Training (DET) employees, the difference would be enormous," Ms Sears said.

Now employees are able to sign-up on-line at the revamped Stewart House website (www.stewarthouse.org.au) or fax their forms through.

In the past 10 weeks this has resulted in 63 join-ups with donations between $1 and $10 a fortnight; 160 of the current 7840 DET employees that contribute have increased their fortnightly contribution; and 42 current contributors have linked their increase to the annual CPI rate.

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June 2007 contents