Christmas was a whole lot brighter for local young people who have transitioned from homelessness into independent living and vulnerable families, thanks to sizable donations from Bathurst RSL Clubs and  Orange Ex-Services. 

The Clubs have donated to Veritas House’s Christmas Appeal, making possible the purchase of 80 Christmas hampers, each filled to the brim with over $100 worth of groceries, to be delivered to young people transitioning from homelessness or Out of Home Care into independent living and to vulnerable families across the Central West. 

“We are so pleased that we can support the young people and their families with these Christmas hampers again. The cost of living is so high right now that Christmas can prove to be one thing their budget cannot stretch to, however thanks to the ongoing generosity of OESC and Bathurst RSL we can ensure that Christmas can be celebrated with not only essentials such as fresh fruit and vegetables, but also enjoyed with presents and even Christmas pudding”, said Jody Pearce, Veritas House CEO.  

“Our entire team look forward to making up the hampers and to be able to deliver them to our clients and see just how much receiving a hampers means is all the reward we need”, advised Jody.  

The groceries for the hampers were purchased from Bernardi’s bathurst and the fruit and vege boxes from Bourkes Wholesale Fruit and Vegetables.  

“Christmas is such a special time for Veritas House, with the support of local clubs, and allows us to be able to bring a smile to the faces of young people and children, who miss out on so much throughout the year”.  

On Saturday December 9, we celebrated the 2023 Foster Care Kids Christmas Party and we certainly enjoyed ourselves!

The PSP Case Workers had pulled out all of the stops and decorated a local hall to look bright, cheery and festive, which we hope all of our Carers and children enjoyed.

A visit from the man in the big red suit did not disappoint, with every single child receiving a gift from Santa, not to mention the festive party games, decorating activities and face painting which all the children took part in.  

Christmas wishes for almost 240 local children and young people have been placed on Christmas trees at Veritas House offices in Bathurst and Orange, and the local charity is calling on the community to help make this Christmas brighter for these special young people. 

For seven years Veritas House has set up Christmas Wishing Trees in their offices at 98 Keppel Street and 96 Bentinck Street, Bathurst, as well as 29 Sale Street, Orange, with local residents being asked to once again give a gift to children and young people in either Out-of-Home Care, at risk of homelessness or simply experiencing hardship which would not see them receiving a gift.  

“Each year we are overwhelmed by the generosity our Christmas Appeal receives and this year will hopefully see all of the wishes on the trees granted again,” said Jody Pearce, Veritas House Chief Executive Officer.  

“Our Christmas Appeal allows local members of the community to bring joy and happiness into the lives of the children and young people who we support, who have possibly never been given the opportunity to celebrate Christmas and receive a gift,” said Jody. 

There are several ways the community can contribute; with visiting a Veritas House office to collect a gift tag with the wish list of a child from the Christmas tree, being the most popular previously, and then return it by Friday, December 1 with the (preferably) unwrapped gift. Alternatively, supporters can purchase a gift card for a local teenager or make a tax-deductible donation to contribute towards the purchase of a gift for a child via the Veritas House website: www.veritashouse.org.au/events/christmas. 

In addition to the trees at Veritas House, Bathurst businesses Moodie’s Pharmacy in Howick Street and Anytime Fitness in George Street will once again have Veritas tags on their Christmas trees for customers to collect.  2BS and B-Rock are also running their annual Toy Appeal which will also benefit children and young people at Veritas House. 

Veritas House is a not-for-profit organisation that was established in the Central West over 40 years ago and has grown to become one of the largest providers of foster care, youth homelessness and family support services in the region, supporting more than 900 children, young people and families each year.  

Photos provided by Western Advocate.

This week is Foster Care Week and Veritas House will celebrate with a range of activities recognising the significant contribution local Foster Carers make to the lives of vulnerable children and young people and to encourage local residents to consider becoming a Carer.

A highlight will include the announcement of the ‘Deb Elsley Memorial Award’, recognising two exceptional Carers who displays the Veritas House organisational values of relationships, collaboration, compassion and authenticity. It will also see Foster Carers presented with 5, 10, 15 and 20 year service awards acknowledging their dedication and contribution to children and young people.

According to Veritas House Permanency Support Program Operations Manager, Toneya Carr-Smith, the awards are designed to acknowledge the significant contribution local Foster Carers make in providing a safe and supportive home environment for children in Out of Home Care.

“Our Foster Carers play a critical role in assisting children and young people in their care to grow and develop in a happy and heathy way and we are excited about the opportunity to honour and celebrate the contribution they make to our region,” said Toneya.

There remains a critical shortage of carers in NSW. Around 350 homes are needed right now for children and young people in care in NSW.

“The Veritas House team provide essential training, support, and resources for Foster Carers and guide you through every step” said Toneya.

Veritas House has also recently had accreditation to provide out-of-home care services renewed for five years by the Office of the Children’s Guardian.

“Receiving our accreditation for a further five years gives Veritas House great stability for the future, ensuring that we can continue to support children and young people in out-of-home care”, said Jody Pearce, Chief Executive Officer.

If you think you can bring happiness and stability into a child’s life and are interested in finding out more about becoming a Foster Carer, call Veritas House on 6332 3882 or visit veritashouse.org.au/foster-care/

Despite strong support from the community, we regrettably announce the cancellation of this year’s Winter Ball, which had been scheduled for August 12.

The decision to cancel the Ball is a particularly difficult one, especially given the success of last year’s sold-out event.

We were really looking forward to hosting our supporters once again this year, however, due to staff changes and a number of competing demands on our agency at this time, we unfortunately do not have the capacity over the next couple of months to organise an event of this size to the standard our supporters have come to expect from Veritas House.

We share the disappointment of all who hoped to attend this year’s Ball. Thank you to everyone who had already secured tickets; we will of course be issuing refunds. And we’d like to sincerely thank our incredible sponsors; this year’s platinum sponsor, Peak Connect, gold sponsors Raine & Horne Bathurst, Bathurst RSL, Bathurst Goldfields, Radio 2BS and Western Advocate, silver sponsors Verto and See Saw Wines, and bronze sponsors Ross Hill Wines, Capital Chemist and Central Commercial Printers.

Another factor in the decision has been the number of other charities, services and community groups who have announced Balls and fundraising events this year. Given the enormous success of our fundraising Ball last year, which exceeded our expectations, we don’t want to compete with our local service and charity partners this year but encourage the community to get behind their events instead.

In lieu of this opportunity to fundraise for our service and given that the event was to coincide with National Homelessness Week, we encourage members of the community who are still keen to support us to contribute a tax-deductible donation towards our Transitional Youth Housing Appeal.

Christmas is set to be a whole lot brighter for local young people who have transitioned from homelessness into independent living and vulnerable families, thanks to sizable donations from Orange Ex-Services and Bathurst RSL Clubs.  

The Clubs have donated to Veritas House’s Christmas Appeal, making possible the purchase of almost 70 Christmas hampers, each filled to the brim with $110 worth of groceries, to be delivered to young people transitioning from homelessness or Out of Home Care into independent living and to vulnerable families across the Central West. 

“For most of the young people who will receive these hampers, Christmas was looking like a fairly lean affair; with the costs of living already so high, they certainly would not be able to afford Christmas treats like pudding and presents,” said Narelle Stocks, Veritas House Acting CEO. “Thanks to the generosity of the OESC and Bathurst RSL, we’re able to gift not only some essential items and fresh fruit and vegetables, but some special Christmas surprises too, to brighten their festive season considerably.” 

“Assisting to prepare the hampers will also be a lot of fun for our staff and our case workers are looking forward to the opportunity to deliver them to each of our clients and to see the smiles on their faces,” said Narelle.  “That’s what Christmas is all about and the generosity the Clubs have shown to Veritas, helping to bring smiles to the faces of local people doing it tough at this time of year, should be applauded.” 

Veritas has also been generously supported by VERTO, Big W Bathurst, 2BS/B-Rock, and Raine & Horne Bathurst and Central West residents through the donation of more than 200 gifts for young people who placed a wish on the Veritas House Christmas Wishing Trees. 

Veritas House is a not-for-profit organisation that was established in the Central West over 40 years ago and has grown to become one of the largest providers of foster care, youth homelessness and family support services in the region, supporting more than 900 children, young people and families each year.  

Christmas wishes for more than 220 local children and young people have been placed on Christmas trees at Veritas House offices in Bathurst and Orange, and the local charity is calling on the community to help make this Christmas brighter for these special young people. 

For the sixth year Veritas has again set up Christmas Wishing Trees in their offices at 98 Keppel Street and 96 Bentinck Street, Bathurst, as well as 29 Sale Street, Orange. Veritas House is calling on local residents to embrace the spirit of giving and purchase a gift for a child or young person who is either in Out-of-Home Care, experienced homelessness, or unlikely to receive a gift this year due to hardship.  

“Each year we are overwhelmed by the generosity of the Bathurst and Orange communities in supporting our Christmas Appeal and we are hopeful the community will rally again to help us grant all the wishes on our trees,” said Veritas House Business Development Manager, Narelle Stocks.  

“In previous years we’ve had parents bring their children in to select a tag and purchase a gift, so they could learn the importance of giving gifts, not simply receiving. We’ve also had businesses in the region replace their office Kris Kringle with buying gifts for our clients, which was a huge contribution towards filling our tree and providing gifts to all of the children in our care,” said Narelle. 

There are several ways the community can contribute; the most popular being to visit a Veritas House office to collect a gift tag with the wish list of a child from the Christmas tree, and then return it by Wednesday 7th December with the preferably unwrapped gift. Alternatively, supporters can purchase a gift card for a local teenager or make a tax-deductible donation to contribute towards the purchase of a gift for a child via the Veritas House website: www.veritashouse.org.au/events/christmas. 

In addition to the trees at Veritas House, Bathurst businesses Moodie’s Pharmacy in Howick Street and Anytime Fitness in George Street will once again have Veritas tags on their Christmas trees for customers to collect. 

Over the past two years, the local service has been unable to hold their annual Christmas Party due to Covid but is looking forward to again seeing Santa distribute many of the gifts to local children, ranging in age from newborns to 18, who are living in Foster Care. 

“Children and young people enter into foster care for a myriad of reasons, but generally they have experienced a degree of trauma, neglect and abuse that required intervention and removal for their own safety and well-being,” explained Narelle.  

“Veritas House Foster Carers in Bathurst and Orange provide a secure, safe and supportive home environment to these children and young people, but there is no doubt that Christmas can still be a tough time, so our Christmas Appeal is an opportunity for local residents to bring some joy into the lives of these special children.” 

Veritas House is a not-for-profit organisation that was established in the Central West over 40 years ago and has grown to become one of the largest providers of foster care, youth homelessness and family support services in the region, supporting more than 900 children, young people and families each year.  

Local Foster Carer, Maureen Wilkins was today announced the recipient of the Deb Elsley Memorial Award by Veritas House as part of their Foster Care Week celebrations.  

The award acknowledges the significant contribution that Maureen has made as a Foster Carer for the past 14 years, and in providing a safe and supportive home environment for the past nine years to two young siblings who she refers to as her own and who she has assisted alongside her biological child to grow and develop in a happy and healthy way. 

According to House Permanency Support Program Operations Manager, Toneya Carr-Smith, Maureen’s advocacy for equal opportunities for all children, including children with disabilities, and her advice to other local foster carers on navigating the disability sector has positively impacted the broader carer network.  

“Maureen is an exceptional carer who is actively involved in regularly connecting her foster children with their birth parents and paternal grandparents and is raising all of her children to be their best versions of themselves,” said Toneya.  

“While working at Veritas it has been my privilege to get to know many carers and there is no question that Maureen embodies the Veritas values of collaboration, authenticity and relationships, and is thoroughly deserving of this award.” 

The Award was presented at one of two Veritas House Foster Care Week Awards ceremonies held in Bathurst and Orange, and which also saw nine Foster Carers presented with 5, 10, 15 and 20 year service awards acknowledging their dedication and contribution to children and young people. The Foster Care Week ceremonies coincide with the launch of the biggest advertising campaign ever conducted by Veritas House urging residents to consider becoming Foster Carers, featuring advertising on buses, in shopping centres and on billboards across the region. 

Anyone considering becoming a foster carer must be over 18, an Australian citizen or permanent resident, in good health and without a criminal record. Carers can be single, married, in a de-facto or in a same sex relationship.   

For more information on becoming a Foster Carer with Veritas House, call 6332 3882 or visit www.veritashouse.org.au.