'Tis The Season Of Giving: Stopgap's Partnership With The Women's & Girls' Emergency Centre

Stress, financial struggle, loneliness and violence are not words that might typically come to mind when thinking of the holidays. However, for many women and families in our community, the festive period is the most feared time of the year... 

meet the people making a difference

For the past 6 months, Stopgap has been working closely with the Women's & Girls' Emergency Centre, a specialist homelessness support service that provide a range of crisis accomodation & support to women, children and families who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and/or domestic and family violence. We have been working to develop a 'future focussed' job search program with the aim of helping WAGEC's clients identify their skills & arm them with the tools to confidently look for new employment opportunities.

As many of us in Sydney's corporate sector celebrate the holidays this month with secret santa gift exchanges & days out celebrating the years achievements, for thousands of mums and children in Sydney & across the nation, the holiday season brings with it the fear of what they endure all year: violence and abuse.  

Domestic violence increases at this time of year and at the Women’s and Girls’ Emergency Centre, they will experience a greater need for extra support. There are currently over 100 deserving children whose families are receiving the support of WAGEC & living in their facilities across Sydney.

On behalf of the WAGEC, we're supporting their holiday campaign & putting a call out for holiday gift donations to all friends of Stopgap. 

The WAGEC children's wish list:

• Newborn: baby packs-baby toiletries, nappies, wipes, cot toys
• 2-5 YO: lego, crafts, bubbles, toy cars, hats, art materials, sports stuff – footballs, handballs
• Primary school children (6-10 YO): board games, lunch boxes, school stationery, sports stuff etc and lego/crafts for boys and girls.
• Pre-teens (10-13 YO ): makeup kits (girls), games, Big W/ Best & Less/ Kmart vouchers
• Teens and young adults (13-18 YO): vouchers for Big W/ Best & Less/ Kmart or cinema

WAGEC are currently accepting un-wrapped gift donations which can be dropped off at their head office in Redfern up until Monday, December 17th; contact details can be found here. 

Alternatively, if you would like to make a financial donation to this amazing organisation, you can do so on their holiday support donation page.