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“Place-based philanthropy is impactful and whilst the Toodyay Community Fund is yet to develop its own stories of positive community impact the following from the Denmark Community Foundation show what can be achieved:

Social Isolation
Denmark Community Foundation’s current focus is on funding initiatives that reduce social isolation and loneliness for the people of Denmark. Humans are social by nature, and our need to connect with others is crucial to our both our mental and physical health. Unfortunately, Australia is experiencing a loneliness epidemic with at least 1 in 3 of us feeling lonely, and 1 in 6 of us feeling very lonely at any given time.

Thanks to a gift from the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation, we’ve been able to fund a number of initiatives that bring our community together. One of those is the purchase of the Denmark Community Resource Centre’s Community Bus. Manned by volunteers, the bus does weekly shopping trips to Albany, twice weekly trips to swimming pools in nearby towns and regular local routes that allow Denmark residents to join in the Resource Centre’s social activities. It’s also hired out at a very low daily rate to community and family groups. For a small town without any public transport, it’s life changing. 

Youth mental health supported
Thanks to the incredible generosity of the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation, Denmark Community Foundation has been able to partner with Youth Focus Great Southern and the Denmark Community Resource Centre to establish a new community-based free Youth Mental Health Clinician support service in Denmark for two days a week.

The urgent need for this service was established through our consultation with key stakeholders. While support was already available in Denmark through the schools and colleges, we found there was a gap, with young people who are above school age, homeschooled, or disengaged from school not having access to much needed support services.

In addition to individual counselling/support sessions, Youth Focus will also offer group-based support programs, family-inclusive support sessions and parent information/education sessions. Further, funding is also available to assist the young people being supported by Youth Focus to travel to specialist and allied health appointments in Albany, and to receive additional support as recommended by the Mental Health Clinician.

Note: other community funds doing great work in their communities include the Esperance Ag Fund and the Albany Community Foundation. Place-based philanthropy is a positive force for change.