BELLINGEN Country Women’s Association (CWA) held its first ever Christmas in July, raising $1300 for the Love Your Sister charity.
“We decided to introduce the Christmas in July event after learning about the loneliness experienced during the winter months,” said Bellingen CWA Branch Secretary Liz Jeremy.
“There’s lots of research on how socialising helps with promoting wellbeing.”
Bello’s partnership with Love Your Sister began in 2024 after the charity’s founder Samuel Johnson OAM, a Gold Logie-winning actor and Victorian Australian of the Year (2018), gave a profoundly moving speech at the CWA conference in Coffs Harbour.
His sister Connie died from breast cancer in 2017.
He was inspired to establish the charity by her passion to help others get the right treatment and medication.
Love Your Sister campaigns for all cancer patients, regardless of location, income, or status.
Rather than a “one size fits all” approach, it advocates for precision medicine, which is targeted treatment for every cancer patient.
“Celebrating Christmas in July we had a great turnout, raising much needed funds for this important work,” Ms Jeremy said.
“These efforts reflect the branch’s understanding of how cutting-edge medical research can transform treatment outcomes for cancer patients.”
Beyond financial support, the women of Bello CWA have been literally putting their hands to work, knitting gloves for Love your Sister.
“Our gloves provide comfort and care during treatment representing not just warmth for patients’ hands, but the warmth of community support during challenging times.”
Another new initiative for Bello CWA is a comprehensive community survey to identify the specific needs of women in the local community.
The survey is open to all women, whether new to the area or longtime residents.
“This will help us to make sure our future initiatives, events and activities, [are] targeted and meaningful, addressing real gaps in support and services”.
The survey represents the branch’s commitment to evidence-based community action, moving beyond assumptions to gather concrete data about what women in their community actually need and want.
“Meaningful community work takes many forms – sometimes it’s organising fundraisers, sometimes it’s knitting with care, and sometimes it’s simply asking the right questions to understand how to help better.”
By Andrea FERRARI
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