News

Campaign shares dignity with vulnerable Aboriginal women

Fri, 19 May 2017 05:02:00

Mildura’s first Share the Dignity charity drive has given support to vulnerable and homeless Aboriginal women in the Mallee.

Share the Dignity collects donated sanitary items and personal care products to supply to community organisations and domestic violence shelters, with the Mildura campaign collecting more than 800 items.
Four young Sunraysia women, including Zoey Andrews and Jade Buhecker, worked on the Mildura campaign and distributed donations to local organisations during the past week.
“We’re all mums with young families looking for a way to contribute and to teach our own kids to be involved in our communities,” Zoey said.
“Share the Dignity seemed like a really practical way of making a difference and one that each of us easily related to, so that helped to get the first Mildura campaign started,” she said.
“It really seemed to touch people because there was a huge response with donations.”
The campaign collects items such as tampons and pads, as well as incontinence items through donation points at local pharmacies.
Zoey distributed some of the donations to Mallee District Aboriginal Services and a separate donation was made to MDAS’s Domestic 24-hour crisis accommodation and support service Meminar Ngangg Gimba.
MDAS clinical team leader nurse Jane Smith, Healthy Promotion Officer Jade Klaebe, Health Promotion Officer Tempest Alphonse and Aboriginal Maternal Health Worker Vicki Laurie arranged for some of the items to be made up into Mother’s Day packs for female community members who either had a women’s health check or annual flu vaccination, but Jane said the donations would primarily be for vulnerable women seen through the health service.
“There are women in our community who are homeless and at risk and the reality is that in many cases they don’t have the spare cash to buy sanitary products,” Jane said.
“It’s just another shame in what’s already a hugely traumatic time and these products give us the capacity to give them a hand in that way – it really does ‘share the dignity’,” she said.
Share the Dignity is planning two more Mildura campaigns this year – a sanitary drive in August and a pre-Christmas “in the bag” campaign in November for toiletries and handbags.