As part of the Veritas House #FosterCareWeek celebrations, Di Fenner from Orange has been announced the recipient of the Deb Elsley Memorial Award. The award acknowledges the significant contribution that Di has made in providing a safe and supportive home environment to children and young people in care, and assisting them to grow and develop in a happy and healthy way.

The Award recognises one exceptional Carer who displays the Veritas House organisational values of compassion, innovation, inclusion, individualised care, cultural sensitivity, fairness and honesty. While Di does not believe in awards singling out carers because of her strong belief that every Foster Carer is special, Di was selected for the award in recognition of her role not only as an exceptional carer, but for her role in mentoring and supporting other carers and in encouraging people from across Western NSW to consider becoming a carer for the first time. Di said that she accepted the award on behalf of all Foster Carers who love and care for children and young people every day.

According to Veritas House CEO, Jody Pearce, 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 healthy way and we believe it is important to honour and celebrate the contribution they make to our region,” said Ms Pearce.

Di has been a carer for many years, including the past 4 years with Veritas House; and the award acknowledges the understanding, compassion and commitment to nurture and support every child and young person that has come into her care that Di has demonstrated throughout this time.

Veritas House remains in urgent need of new Foster Carers, with 2,100 children and young people entering Out of Home Care in NSW in 2017-18. The Foster Care Week activities follow a host of community awareness activities undertaken by Veritas in the last 6 months to increase awareness of the need for carers, including information sessions in Bathurst, Orange, Lithgow, Blayney and Cowra; an advertising campaign featuring the winner of the 2018 Deb Elsley Memorial Award and local staff; and information displays at the Bathurst and Orange Shows and local community events.

“We urgently need local families and individuals to put up their hand because children and young people taken into care deserve to feel special and worthy and loved,” said Ms Pearce. “We hope our Foster Care Week activities celebrate the contribution our Carers make to the lives of children and young people in our community and are also the first step towards becoming a Carer for other people in our community.”

A wide range of Carers are needed including respite – which can be as little as a weekend a month; emergency; long term; extended family or kin; guardianship and adoptive parents.  To become an authorised Foster Carer, Carers must be over 18, an Australian citizen or permanent resident, in good health and meet probity requirements including a Working with Children Check. Carers can be single, married, in a de-facto or in a same sex relationship.

The Lions Club of Cudal Cargo and District has donated $3,000 to Veritas House and has challenged other local service clubs to match or exceed their commitment to supporting local young people experiencing homelessness.

Veritas recently announced a fundraising appeal to raise $250,000 to purchase a Transitional Youth Housing property in Orange to assist young people who are exiting crisis accommodation to transition into independent living. After seeing the Appeal in the Central Western Daily, the local service club made the decision to donate and to encourage other local service organisations to follow their lead.

The donation was gratefully accepted by Veritas House CEO, Jody Pearce who was pleasantly surprised by the size of the donation.

“When the President of the Lions Club of Cudal Cargo and District, Darcy Callan contacted us to arrange the cheque presentation, we never anticipated their contribution would be so significant,” said Jody. “For a service club with just 14 members, $3,000 is an impressive donation and we are delighted that the members felt that our appeal is worthy of their support.”

For many local young people experiencing homelessness that stay at Veritas’ youth refuge and who cannot return safely to their homes, it can be difficult to secure a lease in the private rental market with no prior rental history and limited finances. To help address, Veritas hopes to raise enough funds to purchase a one or two-bedroom flat which it will operate as a transitional youth housing property, to assist young people who are transitioning from homelessness to independence.

Veritas House was established in the Central West more than 35 years ago and has grown to become one of the largest providers of youth homelessness and foster care services in the Bathurst and Orange regions.

Tax deductible donations to the Veritas House Transitional Housing Appeal can be made using PayPal from the Veritas House website or by contacting Narelle Stocks on 1300 01 1973 for direct deposit bank details.

Veritas House has announced the first ever Homeless Connect event to be staged in Western NSW will be held at the Orange Function Centre on Friday 2^nd August.

Made possible through the support of Family and Community Services (FACS), Western Homeless Connect will be a free event attracting individuals from across the Western region who are either homeless or at risk of being homeless, and will showcase available support services in an inclusive and respectful environment.

The event will be based on Homeless Connect events held annually in the Sydney and Hunter region over the past decade and is timed to take place on the eve of National Homelessness Week, which commences on August 4.

“We believe the inaugural Western Homeless Connect will be an exciting event for the region,” said Veritas House CEO, Jody Pearce. “By having more than 30 support services easily accessible in the same location, we hope to strengthen the support network available for people who are experiencing homelessness or just doing it tough.

“We also hope that this event will help break down the stigma about homelessness in the region and encourage enhanced community support in the future,” said Jody.

Services registered to attend include education and employment providers, legal and financial aid, specialist homelessness services, health, mental health and disability providers. Event attendees will also be provided with morning tea and lunch by local services St Vincent’s De Paul, TAFE NSW and Ashcroft’s IGA’s Let’s Make Better.

“Western Homeless Connect is an event for anyone who is having trouble paying the bills, finding a job, or a place to stay and we hope to attract people from across the region by providing free community transport from Bathurst, Cowra, Dubbo and Parkes so that anyone who needs support can access it,” explained Ms Pearce.

“However, we have limited transport places available, so anyone interested in booking a free return ticket should call us today on 1300 01 1973 or visit our website for more information: www.veritashouse.org.au/whc.”

The Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation has announced a $50,000 grant to Veritas House to renovate a one-bedroom Transitional Youth Housing flat in Bathurst which supports young people transitioning from homelessness to independent living.

The grant is the biggest single grant, outside of government funding, that Veritas has ever received, and according to Veritas House CEO, Jody Pearce will make a significant difference to the lives of local young people for years to come.

“For many young people experiencing homelessness that stay at the youth refuge and who cannot return safely to their homes, it can be difficult to secure a lease in the private rental market with no prior rental history and limited finances. Veritas owns a one-bedroom flat which we operate as a transitional youth housing property, leasing the property at below market rent to young people who are transitioning from homelessness to independence; and our case workers support them over a 3-6 month period to obtain furnishings, secure ongoing income, learn budgeting and tenancy management skills and develop a rental history. At the end of their lease we provide a reference and advocate and support them to secure long-term private rental accommodation,” explained Jody.

“Unfortunately, the rent generated does not always cover costs and, as a result, we have no funds to undertake long-overdue improvements, including replacing the kitchen and bathroom, painting and new carpet. The grant from Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation will allow us to undertake these works and ensure young people can take pride in and maintain the property well into the future,” she said.

The grant was part of more than $230,000 in funding announced last week by Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation for community projects, initiatives and programs in the Central West region.

“The Charitable Foundation provides financial support to enable the critical work of community organisations that have initiatives and projects which may fall outside other funding avenues, but are still exceptionally important as they will improve the lives of marginalised members of our regional communities,” said Charitable Foundation Chair, Phil Neat.

The renovations are set to commence at the Veritas Transitional Youth Housing property in January and it is hoped will be completed in time for a new tenant to move into the revamped flat by the end of February.

The Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation distributes more than $1.5 million in grants each year to facilitate charitable projects that address disadvantage in local communities throughout the Hunter, Central West, Central Coast, New England, Mid North Coast and Northern Rivers regions of NSW. Since its establishment in 2003, the Foundation has provided more than $19.1 million to 448 community initiatives.