WestAus Crisis & Welfare Service

16/10/2026

OUR COMMUNITY IS GETTING ON BOARD. 💙
ADD YOUR STOP TO THE CHRISTMAS EXPRESS. 🎄

FIND A STATION OF HOPE.
Stations of Hope are local schools, business, churches and community organisations opening their doors as official collection points for the 2026 Gift of Christmas. 🎅

We already have some wonderful local organisations and community members on board as Stations of Hope, including:

Riverside Primary School
Rhys Williams MLA's Office
Luke Herdegen's Office
Mandurah Baptist Church
Lakelands Community Church
Ocean Road Primary School
The OCD Co Mandurah
Lisa Munday MLA's office

Simply drop off new unwrapped toys and gifts for local children, or food items for our Christmas hampers, and your donation will join the Christmas Express on its journey to a local family who could use a little extra support this Christmas. 🙌

We’re also inviting more businesses, schools, churches and community organisations to come on board and host a Christmas Express collection point.

You can collect:
Christmas food items
Gifts for children and young people
Both food and gifts
Or host a virtual online collection

As a Station of Hope, you’ll become part of a community wide effort to help make Christmas brighter for families doing it tough across Mandurah and the Bindjareb Peel region.

Ready to get on board?

Complete the short registration form via this link and the team will be in touch with your collection information, signage and next steps.
https://www.bridgebuilders.org.au/gift-of-christmas

14/10/2026

Local community groups across Mandurah and Peel are coming together again for the Kindness Collective Christmas Drive! 🚂

Because of these incredible local groups, we are on track to deliver 1,500 Christmas hampers and 4,000+ gifts to local families doing it tough. 🙌

We are deeply grateful for this amazing community effort.
If you are interested in getting your own business, school, or club involved? You can still climb aboard the Christmas Express and register as a Station of Hope to collect food, gather toys, or volunteer.

👇 Drop a thank you to our community heroes in the comments or click the link to join us!

👉 Visit: https://www.bridgebuilders.org.au/gift-of-christmas

Thank you to everyone who has already registered as a Station of Hope—your ongoing commitment truly changes lives. 💙

13/10/2026

THE GIFT OF CHRISTMAS EXPRESS IS COMING TO OUR COMMUNITY! 🎁🤶
This Christmas, our community is coming together to make sure local families doing it tough can still experience the Gift of Christmas.🙌
Through the Kindness Collective, local community organisations are coming together to give Christmas food hampers and gifts to more than 1,500 local families in need this Christmas.

If you just add a few extra food items to your trolley next time you shop or pop an extra gift into your shopping basket, although it might not feel like much, but when thousands of people across our community do it together, we can fill an entire Christmas Express with hope.🙏

Every hamper and every gift collected through this campaign will be gifted to local families in the Mandurah and Bindjareb (Peel) region experiencing hardship.

Donations can be dropped off at Bridge Builders, WestAus Crisis & Welfare Services, participating Kindness Collective organisations, or at one of our Stations of Hope popping up across the community.

One community. One Christmas Express. 1,500+ local families. Thousands of gifts and food items.
Together, we can bring the Gift of Christmas to families facing hard times right across our community.
Want to donate, become a Station of Hope, volunteer, or get your business, school or community group involved?
👉 Visit: https://www.bridgebuilders.org.au/gift-of-christmas

Let’s fill the Christmas Express, one gift, one tin and one act of kindness at a time. 💙

Anglicare WA Peel & Rockingham; Bridge Builders Inc; Calvary Youth Services; Choyces WA; Church of the Way; Anglican Parish Coodanup; Halo Team Community Op Shop; headspace Mandurah; Lotus Support & Counselling Services; Money Mentors Financial Counselling; New Beginnings Outreach Centre; Orange Sky Australia; Oseca; Palmerston Association; Peel Community Kitchen; Peel Community Legal Services; PeelConnect Incorporated; St. Patrick's Community Support Centre; The Salvation Army Mandurah; Uniting Outreach Mandurah; Vinnies WA; WA Mums Cottage; YouthCARE Australia; BareFoot Ministries

12/10/2026

Anti Poverty Week.🙌

WA used to have one of Australia's lowest poverty rates. In 2014, 8.2% of West Aussies were living in poverty. Today, it's just over 15%.

That's more than 145,000 additional people living in poverty since 2021.

And it's not just that WA has more people. A greater share of our community is experiencing poverty.

Something has changed, and it affects us all. Because when more people are struggling to afford the basics, it affects our homes, our workplaces, our communities and the opportunities available to people across WA.

Poverty isn't inevitable. The choices we make as a community can help change the direction we're heading.

10/10/2026

Alcoa Peel Business Awards Finalist Night! 💙

Congratulations to all the finalists announced last night. 👏

09/10/2026

In recognition of Anti-Poverty Week and World Homelessness Day this weekend, the Kindness Collective group of Agencies and Service providers held a Homelessness Event yesterday to support those less fortunate.🙌

Held in the Tuart Ave Hub precinct, over 25 Agencies and Service providers came together to provide advice and support to an estimated 200 people. It was an opportunity to engage with some of our street present community members who regularly visit the Community Showers and Community Kitchen and to also be able to show others that weren't aware of the facilities that are available to them, if and when required.💙

Thank you to Community Bank Halls Head & David Bolt MLA for their sponsorship of the event also enabling us to provide a meal and refreshments on the day, dignity packs, toiletry packs, food hampers, rough sleeper packs, tents & sleeping bags. Along with many other generous donations, including from the Mandurah Forum, clothing, blankets and additional food hampers, toiletries etc. were provided.

Thank you also to Mayor Amber Kearns for being there to support us all throughout the morning.🙏

We would also like to do a big shout out to the SES volunteers who provided most and put up all of the marquees for the day along with supplying tables and chairs. Your assistance was so greatly appreciated!

A big thank you to all of the Agencies and Service providers that came together and continue to provide such essential support to our community. Many of us were able to engage with many more people in need that we haven't seen before.🥰

07/10/2026

Kindness Collective Homeless Support Event 💙
Thank you once again to Lisa Munday MLA & Rhys Williams MLA - State Member for Mandurah offices for being collection points for our generous community to provide items for those less fortunate.

We are very grateful for the food and toiletry donations that were collected for our Homelessness Day Event on Thursday 8th October for hampers to be provided to people in our community doing it tough.

This is an opportunity to connect with over 20 local organisations and find the support you need.🙌

06/10/2026

Thank you to the Coolibah community 💙
We are so very grateful for the Coolibah Care Community Charity Drive.

Residents, families, clients and the Coolibah team filled tub after tub with pantry staples, tinned meals, pasta, flour, toiletries and everyday essentials and handed over to WestAus which will be utilised for the Kindness Collective Homelessness Day this Thursday 8th October for those less fortunate.

We are so very grateful for Coolibah Care and their community for this very kind donation.

Thank you, Coolibah community 💙

Our Community Charity Drive has wrapped up, and we're so proud to share what you made possible.

Over the past few weeks, residents, families, clients and the Coolibah team filled tub after tub with pantry staples, tinned meals, pasta, flour, toiletries and everyday essentials. Those tubs have now been handed over to WestAus Crisis & Welfare Services.

For more than 30 years, WestAus has been there for people across the Peel region at some of the hardest moments of their lives. Their team provides emergency relief, food aid, crisis accommodation (including for people escaping domestic violence), tenancy advice, and advocacy to help people find the right support. They even run a Healthy Breakfast Club so local kids can start the school day with a full tummy.

Crisis can reach any of us. Knowing there's a local team ready to help makes a real difference to our community.

To everyone at WestAus, thank you for the work you do every single day. To find out more about this service visit - https://www.westauscrisis.org/

Thank you to everyone who contributed. Every item will go to a local person or family who needs it.

This is what "for the community, by the community" looks like. 💙

03/10/2026

As also quoted by Mayor Amber Kearns “Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.” Helen Keller

This resonates with so many of us in this sector where we are very fortunate with so many people caring about our community.

We’re very grateful for the ongoing support from the City of Mandurah and to be so aligned strategically to better support our community in to the future 💙

01/10/2026

THE GIFT OF CHRISTMAS EXPRESS IS COMING TO OUR COMMUNITY!
This Christmas, our local community is coming together to make sure local families doing it tough can still experience the Gift of Christmas.
Through the Kindness Collective, driven by WestAus Crisis & Welfare Services & Bridge Builders Inc., more than 20 local organisations are working side by side with one big goal:
To give Christmas food hampers and gifts to more than 1,500 local families in need this Christmas. 🎅🎄🤶🎁