Latest Newsletter – January 2017
Update with Hart
“In January 2016, the Board of HART Australasia held a strategic planning retreat in Queensland to look at the future of the organisation. They recognised the importance of working more closely with HART UK to provide appropriate support to their partners.
In 2015, Dr Martin Panter visited HIAM-Health in Timor Leste and are currently developing additional projects in the country, including the establishment of a Women’s health education programme in Ermera Province of Timor Leste.
Tax Deductibility Status
HART Australasia successfully applied to the Australian Tax Office for recognition as a Public Benevolent Institution meaning that they now have tax-deductible status for donations. Their donors have welcomed this change, particularly during Baroness Cox’s visit in early 2016.
New Executive Officer
In April we acquired a new Executive Officer, Mrs Sharron Bain, who has previously only had a spectator’s view of Hart, as her husband Dr Roger Bain was on the Board for a period of time and had visited Timor Leste with the Baroness and Dr Martin Panter. She is now keen to be involved and wants to see Hart’s profile raised in Australia and find a variety of ways to increase their funding.
It was sad to see Mrs Janet Binns leave us, as she has contributed so much to our team and provided inspiration for a new project that we hope to continue on with, in Uganda. We pray that as she leaves to do other things in her life that God goes with her and blesses her abundantly.
Message from the Executive Officer re Administration
As mentioned earlier, I had the privilege of recently joining the Hart team here in Australia. However this has meant a major reshuffle of the Administration and the very time consuming and messiness of moving (physically) the whole Office from Pymble NSW, to Robina on the Gold Coast, Queensland.
Unfortunately due to lots of hiccups along the way it has taken a lot longer than hoped for to get everything running smoothly. However, things have been progressing (slowly but surely) and I am finally starting to find my feet. A backlog has built up and I have been getting to each outstanding matter as quickly as I can.
I have a lovely lady who comes in and inputs data for me and attends to a few other admin duties around the Office, which is wonderful and a great time saver!
The most pressing ‘Office project’ is to get our website up and running to help keep everyone feeling connected and up to date with the latest information and ‘going ons’. Along with this will be our Newsletter of course, which will be incorporated into the website.
I also feel the need to increase my knowledge and understanding about our partners in East Timor, Uganda etc. so hopefully one day in the near future I will be able to visit them. I would like them to feel more connected to us as well.
Along with this, I would like to visit the Hart organisation in the UK and meet with the Baroness and her
colleagues. However at the moment I have plenty to do here!
Fundraisers
Recently Hart has had a couple of small fundraisers, one in Pymble, Sydney and another in Robina on the Gold Coast.
The Robina fundraiser was called a ‘clothing swap’ where people came with clothes that were no longer needed but were still good enough to sell onto others. They would bring the clothes in, put them on racks for sale, and then purchase someone else’s clothes for a small amount.
Devonshire teas were put on by some lovely ladies, tables set around for afternoon tea and a quick chat from Dr Martin Panter (with a slide show presentation) to share about why we were raising funds for Timor Leiste in particular.
New Op Shop on the Gold Coast
As mentioned in our earlier article, we recently held a ‘clothing swap’ and there were quite a few clothes left over. The lovely ladies who came were happy to donate these to our organisation. It then seemed quite natural to consider opening an ‘Op Shop’.
We put a few feelers out and started looking for premises that would suit our purposes, and it would seem that quite unexpectedly and quite quickly… God provided!
We have been in a bit of a whirlwind regarding it, as it feels that not only did God open doors for us, it feels like he has firmly ushered us through them!! It’s SO exciting to see how God works despite our own apprehensions and short comings. Why do we always get surprised when God says “YES!” ?
The Op Shop will have a dual purpose as we plan on making it our new Office as well.
We are currently negotiating the lease and hope to be in the premises very soon. We will let you know our new address, once things have been finalised and we have moved in.
I’m very excited for this venture and we pray it will provide a steady income for many of the projects we are involved in.
Schools Interest/Awareness
A Gold Coast College has been keen to engage with us, to start discussions regarding engaging the senior students in joining an ‘Ambassador’ Programme.
Students will be encouraged to do some investigations of their own into an area that they feel would benefit from receiving humanitarian aid or Advocacy. They would then do an essay or project on this. Along with this we want them to have the experience of organising their own small fundraiser, maybe a car wash, bbq lunch at school, or maybe even a free dress day.
Each participant will receive an Ambassador Badge signifying their participation in the programme that they can proudly wear on their blazer. We will also present Certificates and/or small prizes for their achievements along the way.
We are very much looking forward to seeing this become an exciting part of the College’s life in 2017.