Editorial: Keep It Local

IT sounds terrible at first, but bear with me…

Stop raising money for Sydney based charities, especially children’s charities and start taking care of our own.

I’ve worked for and with, major charities in Sydney, I’ve seen the opulent balls where high net worth individuals each drop tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars at one event.

And when I returned to the Upper Hunter I was saddened to see local people working hard to raise relatively small amounts for these same charities.

I’ve done it and I know, it is comparatively easy to raise money for children’s charities compared to an eggshell mattress for a spinal patient or new shower chairs for aged care facilities

As a result many children’s charities have millions of dollars sitting earning interest, while other worthwhile causes struggle for the basics.

And woe betied any government who reduces funding to these big charities, compared to cutting away at the less appealing ones without the money to have lobbyists on their side.

The Westpac Rescue Helicopter has put a call out for people to donate to them and they are a charity regional areas rely on heavily and deserve our support.

The Scone Neighbourhood Centre works with the Muswellbrook Homeless Support and the local Red Cross to help families in crisis and always welcome food pantry items.

Michael Carr-Gregg was gobsmacked when he saw the state of mental health services in the Upper Hunter and publicly called on people to donate to Where There’s A Will instead of charities like Beyond Blue, because they return more to the local community which is in much more desperate need than city based communities.

The local ambulance were chuffed to have been given a high powered torch that helps them when they are at accidents in the middle of the night and there are a raft of local charities who have small needs that could make a big difference that you can support.

So talk to the people in our community who are part of these charities and ask them what they need, stop sending money away and begin taking care of our own first.

If you are a local charity, contact us and we are happy to get the message out there for what you need.

Elizabeth Flaherty
Editor of scone.com.au