***One Step Back to Move Forward – Change to Crisis Calls*** For the last year, Mama Lana’s Community Foundation has assisted hundreds of people through our Crisis Call program - a food hamper, petrol vouchers, or sourcing clothing and furniture to name a few things. We have largely been able to assist most calls thanks to you, our generous and caring supporters. Thank you so much for this. Unfortunately, the number of crisis calls has risen exponentially in recent months. Where we had one every week, we frequently have five or six. Many of these are referred to us by other agencies and organisations, and we have always tried to assist in any way we can. Although we have your incredible support and a wonderful volunteer team, we have found that balancing the needs of our patrons under the bridge vs the needs of the Crisis Calls is no longer viable. Not only is it a huge strain on resources – we are run solely by volunteers, are entirely non-government funded, and are constantly asking for your generous donations - but the team spends all our spare time coordinating the calls. This is coming at a cost to our own families, work, health and well-being, and more importantly, means we cannot focus on our original goals of providing food, necessities and assistance to our patrons under the bridge. Subsequently, MLCF has made the decision to step back from Crisis Calls. We will still assist with a one-off emergency food hamper when requested, and all other requests will be referred to the relevant agencies or organisations that can help. While this is a huge change for MLCF it is not a decision made lightly. We have debated it at length, weighed up pros and cons, and carefully put alternative plans in place. But we are excited about being able to hone our focus on assisting our original patrons and building Mama Lana’s from this base. This is where we came from and what we do best. We hope that in the coming year, we will find funding, set up a factory unit and further our services throughout the Penrith Region. Then we can consolidate our efforts so we can again offer assistance with Crisis Calls in the future. We thank you for your incredible support of MLCF and everything we do. Shae (on behalf of the MLCF Team)
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 20:00:01 +0000