Now in its sixth year, the Officeworks Make a Difference Appeal raises money and awareness for charities and special organisations around Australia. Each June, we invite our customers to make a donation of any amount, both in-store and online, which may be tax-deductible.
In 2023, the Officeworks Make a Difference Appeal will be raising funds for local children's health, education and environmental organisations right across the country. We are supporting 15 incredible organisations that promote inclusion and enable children to learn, create and connect for a sustainable future. These organisations are:
- Lids4Kids, which diverts plastic bottle lids from landfill
- Busy Schools, an alternative education program for students in Year 11 and 12
- Teach Learn Grow, offering support services to kids experiencing educational disadvantage
- Zoos Victoria, an organisation on a mission to fight wildlife extinction
- Lighthouse Foundation, helping young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness
- EatUp, which feeds hungry Aussie kids so they can reach their full potential
- The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation, giving life-saving care to sick and injured children
- Mirabel Foundation, an organisation assisting kids who have been orphaned or abandoned
- Operation Sunshine WA, bringing comfort to children who have experienced trauma
- sister2Sister Foundation, which empowers young women through mentorship
- Learning Links, providing educational assistance to kids facing learning difficulties
- Make-A-Wish Australia, a charity granting life-changing wishes to critically ill children
- Brighter Access, which helps individuals and families experiencing disability
- Talk Out Loud, helping young people find their voice through empowerment programs
- Care Kits for Kids Qld, which creates care kits for children who live in care or are in crisis
Together, we can help make a positive difference and change the lives of children in our local communities. Here we talk to three of the organisations set to benefit from the campaign.
Teach Learn Grow, Western Australia
WA-based organisation Teach Learn Grow is on a quest to improve educational outcomes for Aussie kids experiencing disadvantage. With the support of their partners, donors and volunteers, the organisation provides free one-on-one tutoring and mentoring to children in remote and rural communities, so that they can reach their full potential.
“We aim to bridge the education gap between metropolitan students and rural and remote students, and we do this through two main programs,” explains Hannah Beard, General Manager of Development. “For our week-long in-person program, [the trained volunteers] will spend three-to-four hours a day tutoring kids experiencing learning disadvantages. The tutoring is all one-on-one and curriculum-aligned, with a focus on maths. Then our eight-week eMentor program [pairs] volunteers up with remote students, with a focus on a sort of mentoring relationship, aiming to increase skills like resilience, goal-setting and motivation.”
Through participating in the Officeworks Make A Difference Appeal, the not-for-profit hopes to raise awareness for its cause, as well as garner some much-needed financial support to help fund an entire school. “If we could do that through the Appeal, that would be incredible,” says Hannah. This year, they also hope to rebuild their roster of volunteers, thereby increasing the number of students they're able to reach across the state. “That’s our big focus at the moment – rebuilding and getting as many people involved, so we can tutor as many students as possible,” she explains.
SEE ALSO: 7 Ways to Help Your Kids With Maths
Zoos Victoria, Victoria
Zoos Victoria is a not-for-profit organisation that’s dedicated to fighting wildlife extinction. They manage four impressive zoos across the state – Healesville Sanctuary, Kyabram Fauna Park, Melbourne Zoo and Werribee Open Range Zoo – while also overseeing essential breeding and recovery programs.
“We’re Australia’s oldest and largest zoo-based conservation organisation, with a history spanning more than 160 years,” says Lian Wilson, General Manager of Community Conservation & Learning. “Zoos Victoria has a mission to fight extinction and secure a future rich with wildlife. Climate change, introduced predators and habitat destruction have severely impacted wildlife in Australia and across the world. But we know that if we each make small changes, collectively, we can make a big difference.”
One area of focus for Zoos Victoria is its Fighting Extinction Schools program, which is designed to help teach and empower Aussie kids about protecting native animals and their habitats. Funds raised for Zoos Victoria during the Officeworks Make A Difference Appeal will go directly towards this program, helping to provide access to teachers and schools, as well as offering professional development and mentoring services.
“Our goal in education and community conservation is to foster a caring, informed and active wildlife-friendly community,” says Lian. “Donations make all the difference in supporting programs, such as our threatened species breeding and recovery initiatives, as well as species monitoring and habitat restoration.”
SEE ALSO: How Officeworks’ Tree Planting Is Restoring the Environment
Lids4Kids, South Australia
This Canberra-based charity is committed to rescuing every plastic lid (which can’t be recycled in Australia currently) and preventing them from going into landfill. Instead, Lids4Kids partners with small plastic manufacturers to repurpose the lids for cool projects that benefit the community, like recycled plastic park benches and cubbyhouse roof tiles.
The brains behind Lids4Kids is dad-of-three Tim Miller, who launched the project on Facebook in 2019, which soon exploded. “My initial goal was to collect about 100,000 lids and we achieved that in the first three weeks,” he says. “After a couple of months we had five million, and then 10 million, and now we’ve done well over 100 million lids. So yeah, it’s been extraordinary.”
In partnering with the Officeworks Make a Difference Appeal, Tim hopes to spread the word about the environmental impacts posed by small plastics – and encourage us all to do our part in closing the loop. “A big goal for us is educating and empowering kids to be the ambassadors and champions of the project,” he explains. “We believe that regardless of your age or your physical capacity, you have something valuable to offer your community.”
Tim and his team of volunteers also offer workshops for school groups, where students get hands-on experience sorting and shredding the lids before making their own recycled plastic products such as coasters, clocks and pens. “The Make A Difference Appeal will help us continue to run our workshops for free,” says Tim. “We have people coming from all over the ACT and NSW, often from disability-services providers.” The Appeal will also help Tim purchase more specialised machines to process even more plastic into usable goods.
How to Make a Difference
By taking part in this Appeal, you will be positively impacting the lives of children in communities across the country. To find out more about all 15 organisations being supported, and to make a donation to one or more of your choice, visit Officeworks Make a Difference Appeal.
Because, together, we can truly make a positive difference.
