The Nurtured Village Celebrates A Year Of Operations
A growing number of mums found a shoulder to lean on in The Nurtured Village as the charity celebrates another successful year of operations.
Since 2019, the Brisbane initiative, which was founded not only as a mental health support system for mums but also to address the gap in ‘the traditional village of support’ during early parenthood, has grown into more than 20 locations in NSW, QLD, Victoria, and Western Australia. It branched out into The Hills in January 2024, reaching local mums in need of food, formula, and fellowship.
This year, The Hills District branch and its members banded together for an initiative to create assistance for a family that suffered a complete loss due to a house fire.
The local Hills coordinator, Andrea Pateman, and Mr Alex Hawke MP met in June. Mr Hawke articulated his support for the charity’s different initiatives. They discussed the charity’s impact in light of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and its efforts to enhance its members’ mental health.
They also discussed the grants the organisation may be eligible to apply for.
In December, Executive Director and Manager of Operations Kaitlyn Bywater felt saddened and concerned that they saw a significant increase in mums and families experiencing food instability over the last few months leading up to Christmas.
The Nurtured Village acknowledged that the Christmas season is a major stress for families, so they came up with the Secret Santa initiative, asking the community to become one and donate to help build Christmas hampers.
The charity is thankful for the donations received for the initiative and the generosity and support of The Hills district community. The Hills branch remains laserfocused on expanding its programs and outreach in 2025.
Nationwide, the Nurtured Village delivered over 250 hampers in 2024, amounting to $130,000 worth of support to Australian families. Achieving this milestone meant the collective help of 96 volunteers.
Marketing Manager Michael Holani reflects on the previous year’s strides and highlights the efforts of everyone involved.
“The Nurtured Village Hampers Hills District proudly marks another successful year of operations, continuing its mission to prevent and advocate maternal mental health disorders by creating communities for mums. This milestone reflects the dedication of volunteers, the generosity of donors and the unwavering support of the community,” he said.
The charity manages home-cooked meals, store-bought foods and gifts in the form of a hamper that is randomly gifted to a young family each month in each town and city to advocate for and promote mental health for mums.
Nominations open monthly for all biological, foster, kinship-care mothers or stepmothers. Members of the community nominate individuals or families through their website. The hamper recipients are then selected at random. As the charity isn’t means-tested, winners are chosen randomly unless a high-risk case is identified, enabling access without a mental health diagnosis.
