Terra Firma extends support of Make a Difference

Consulting firm Terra Firma has agreed to extend its charity partnership with Make a Difference for a further 12 months.  To mark the occasion Kate Milson handed over a cheque for $1,000 to CEO John Gelagin.

It's been a great partnerships for the last 12 months with the 2 organisations connecting regularly through the year through the corporate triathlon, quarterly drinks, the Make a Difference annual dinner and volunteers from Terra Firma getting involved in the Retreats. 

New leaders Information Day

In July we had our first ever new leader Information Day down at our Kangaroo Valley property.  With 6 new leaders in attendance, brim full of enthusiasm, this was an invigorating day.  As Make a Difference strives to expand our retreats programme having new volunteer leaders is vital. 


 

Strategy for 2014-16 set

At our Board Meeting in July 2014, Make a Difference committed to the following goals.

By 30 June 2016 Make a Difference is:

1.       Running a thriving retreats/camps programme and providing ongoing support for 30 young people

2.       Contributing to and influencing debate/policy on issues around mental health and disadvantage particularly as they affect young people

3.       Finished the initial phase of development of the Kangaroo Valley property

4.       Appropriately resourced with a small team of high quality and passionate professionals supported by enthusiastic volunteers

5.       Making real progress towards measuring and demonstrating our success, and such success is clearly communicated to stakeholders

6.       Supported by a growing funding base which is solid and sustainable 

Boys Camp June 2014

From one of our leaders:

"The Make A Difference retreat was a great chance for me to get away from the busy city for a weekend and help enrich the lives of boys who live in impoverished living situations. Not only did I have a great time, but I saw a change in each and every boy as they spent more time away from their families. I am glad that I have the opportunity to be a good example to these boys.

During the camp we got involved in a number of activities with the boys. In particular a highlight for me was playing a game of cricket that the boys organised themselves. What stood out to me was that they were so encouraging to get their whole group involved, rather than leaving anyone out. Everyone had multiple turns at different positions and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves."

Another comment:

"I'm a bit of a veteran of the camps these days, and so it was quickly apparent to me that this was the most homely of them all. The first boys' camp to take place on our own property, it was a weekend full of anti-bored board games, warm fires, domestic cooking, 20/20 cricket at our very own KVCG (the driveway), horse and go-kart riding and driving. For the boys, I'm confident the weekend will have been a fiery clawback of some of the important aspects of being an adolescent that they may not otherwise have had. For me, happy an ambitious fielding attempt probably has not left me infertile, I look forward to our next opportunity to come together to grow our closeness and to spend more time together as a pack of young - and not as young - men."

From one of our leaders - Girls' retreat on 2-4 May

Going on retreat with Make a Difference young people is always a pleasure and an honour. 

Even though the weather was a little damp our get together in May was great fun.  We were able to light up the log fire and snuggle down in front of it for some chats.  Linda and Loretta learnt how to play backgammon while the others got very involved in Monopoly which ended up running over two days.  The grand winner at the end was Mandy who amassed a strong portfolio of property with houses and hotels galore! 

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