Open Family Australia will be selling ribbons and key rings at Friday night’s clash with Wellington Phoenix, so delve into your pockets and support the cause with donations being taken on the external and internal concourse from 6.30pm.
Open Family Australia will be selling ribbons and key rings at Friday night-s clash with Wellington Phoenix, so delve into your pockets and support the cause with donations being taken on the external and internal concourse from 6.30pm.
For more than 30 years, Open Family Australia has been providing outreach support and services to homeless and at-risk young people, supporting disadvantaged young people between 12 and 25 years of age, from a wide range of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. These young people are some of the most vulnerable and marginalised people in our society and require early intervention to help them survive this critical time in their young lives and re-engage back into the community.
Melbourne Victory Football Club General Manager of Operations, Trent Jacobs, said of the partnership, “Our club has a real focus on engagement in the community and support of charitable partners, and we see this as a key part of our corporate social responsibility.”
“In partnering with Open Family Australia, we-re hopeful we can assist in driving greater awareness about homeless youth and ultimately help in bringing these numbers down,” he added.
The core of Open Family Australia-s business is the provision of assertive outreach support and intensive case management for at-risk and homeless youth. That is, they engage with young people one-on-one, on their terms and in their environment, to effectively build a trusting relationship and to connect them with other youth related services. Open Family Australia-s Outreach workers support young people in making positive life choices and reconnecting into their community.
Mark Watt, CEO of Open Family said, “A large proportion of our client base is here in Melbourne, so to pair up with one of the most prominent sporting clubs in Melbourne is fantastic for us.”
“There are more than 32,000 Australian youths on any given night sleeping rough on our streets and, unfortunately, this number is growing every year. We are confident this partnership will generate much needed exposure about some of the issues our clients face every day.”
