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Term 4 2024
Term 4 2024 Program Highlights
In the final term of 2024, children travelled from Granville, Taree, Mid North Coast, Port Macquarie, Lismore, Tweed Heads/Ballina, Campbelltown, Moree, Broken Hill, Sunraysia, Bourke, and Upper Hunter to Stewart House. These children covered thousands of kilometres, coming from some of the most remote areas of NSW.
We wish them all the best and hope they continue applying the important lessons learned at Stewart House.
Reflections for 2024
In 2024, we offered places to 1600 children (an equal split of boys and girls), free of charge to carers, thanks to our community’s generous support.
This year, Friends of Stewart House (FOSH) continued their long-standing support of Stewart House by spearheading a strategy to raise awareness in regional communities about the value and impact of our program and to assist with ensuring we meet our fundraising goals. We are incredibly grateful to FOSH and the local pubs and clubs that have provided funding assistance through the ClubGrants initiative. Support like this helps us with over $5 million required each year to cover the costs of meals, accommodations, transportation, entertainment, and staff salaries (including overnight supervisors, cooks, cleaners, laundry, and maintenance).
We are incredibly proud of the impact we’ve made on the lives of so many children. Your support allows us to continue providing this vital service, giving children the chance to thrive and build a brighter future.
Some fun stats in 2024:
- We served over 25,000 sandwiches and rolls for lunch this year. Would you believe that curried eggs turned out to be quite popular?
- We distributed 40,000 Stewart House High Five Dollars as part of the program’s core values: *being safe, *kind and fair, and *having a go. These “dollars” were spent at the Stewart House High Five Shop (run by the children) on new toys and gifts before departure.
Stewart House Students Enact a Bill
Member for Ballina, Adjunct Professor Tamara Smith, was one of the many politicians who warmly welcomed Stewart House students lucky enough to visit the Parliament of NSW (Australia’s first and oldest Parliament) during their stay.
The students watched bills being debated and created their own mock Parliament to debate the “Extension of School Hours Bill,” which they unanimously rejected! A highlight of the day was the President of the Legislative Council welcoming the students—a moment forever recorded in history through Hansard: “I welcome to the Parliament students from Stewart House who are visiting Parliament from various schools across northern New South Wales. They are all very welcome here today.”
Our thanks to Rev. Jay Bacik, a passionate Stewart House advocate, for accompanying the children on tour and to the staff at the Parliament of NSW who made us feel so welcome.
We receive monetary donations and in-kind goods and services year-round. We thank the individuals, clubs, corporate organisations, and social groups for bringing extra cheer to the children, especially during Christmas…
We are incredibly grateful for your support. Wishing you a joyous and safe festive season, and a happy new year. Join us again in 2025 to see how your generosity brings care and joy to the children we serve.