Hope In A Suitcase Australia- Tamworth

💗 Every good thing, must come to an end! 💗

It is with very heavy hearts that we make this post to advise that Hope in a Suitcase Tamworth will cease operation next Friday 28th July 2023. 😔😔😔

It has been a very hard decision to make, but due to lack of use from local agencies we have had to make this heart breaking decision for the charity and for ourselves.

We can no longer pour our hearts into this worthy cause and continue to push against a solid brick wall in attempts to get agencies and case workers to use a service being offered to them.

We would like to say a MASSIVE thank you to every single person who has supported us, shared the word and donated to the cause! What we did do for the children we helped would not have been possible without you!! We truly are so appreciative and grateful to you from the bottom of our hearts 💕

A big thank you to those angel case workers who did utilise the service. You are a god send to those children! Thank you for supporting and working with us to bring a tiny piece of happiness to those children in some of their darkest days.

A special shout out to PRD Tamworth and Top States Office Supplies Pty LTD for supporting the cause and being donation drop off points for our time here in Tamworth. A special thank you also goes out to the amazing people who loaned us some storage space for the last nine months! You have been amazing!!

To everyone from the Tamworth community and surrounding regions, thank you again for the support you have given us!!
Tamworth Hope in a Suitcase Coordinators 💜💜

These two suitcases are off to brighten two cherubs day! A girl who loves arts and crafts and a boy who enjoys soccer and games! 💜💜💜

😊💕😳💕😊 Holy moley!! 😊💕😳💕😊

So late last year, HIAS Tamworth moved to its new location, as through the AMAZING support of our community and surrounds, we had OUTGROWN the space we were operating out of 💗💗

This happened at the same time as one of us were moving house, which also happened to be where we were operating out of at the time. So things that weren't in tubs just got put in tubs, recent donations from our two Tamworth drop points, a big load from a group of foster care parents who donated back to the cause, additional extras from Calrossy Junior School, Muswellbrook DCJ office and a beautiful soul from Glenn Innes, which we had looked at but not unpacked, were moved as they were and our additional tubs we had just purchased just got packed with everything and anything to move safely.

As a result, we had a whole lot of sorting to do at the other end. So drink bottles and snacks packed, speaker pumping, active wear on and let the sorting begin!!

This is what it looked like for two days while we went through everything!! Donations unpacked, existing tubs having to be split up to fit all the extras, more tubs purchased, labels being made and muscles working out lifting tubs.

We did it!! It's now all sorted and stacked up neat and tidy again, ready for when we go in to pack the next suitcase.

We cannot say it enough, but thank you to everyone that supports this cause!! We are going to continue the pause of donations for now, but will let you know when that changes. 🌻

Hey everyone,

Just a quick message to say we are
PAUSING DONATIONS AT BOTH DROP OFF POINTS PLEASE.

It's been a quiet start to the year as far as moving suitcases out and we have quite a stockpile of goods at the moment. After the move to a bigger premises late last year and end of year craziness/silly season, we haven't had a chance to stocktake so we are now taking the opportunity to do so.

We are eternally grateful for the local support though and sending a HUGE thank you out to everyone who continues to support us ❤️

Thank you for your understanding.

How amazing are these little superstars and their wonderful school community!!!! 🥰🌟🥰

Last month we had the absolute honour and pleasure of attending Calrossy Junior School to accept their MASSIVE donation of 21, yes you read that correctly, 21, fully packed suitcases and four boxes of left over addition products!!!!! We were absolutely speechless (which was awkward when asked to speak at the assembly), overwhelmed with happiness and full appreciation for their generosity!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the Calrossy Junior SRC, Summa, Claire and the entire Junior school community for your heartfelt donations and the HUGE amount of effort you put into organising and packing your donation. We honestly cannot express our gratitude enough. 💜💜💜💜

For many of us, Christmas is a time of celebration, a time shared with family, of giving and receiving, wrapping paper flying around and Christmas lunch followed by a food coma nap!! It's a time of joy, laughter and memories.

Unfortunately though, this isn't what Christmas day looks like for everyone. Sometimes, in some very sad and unfortunate circumstances, children are removed from their family and enter into the out-of-home care system around the Christmas period.

We would love to be able to bring a little bit of Christmas magic to these kiddos or young adults in this hard time. To be able to provide carers with a gift for a child in emergency placement at short notice.

We current area of need is presents for children aged 12 to 18 years. Please see the picture below for suggestions. Gift cards to shops that teenagers enjoy is also a viable option.

We hope there are some Santa's little elves out there that may be able to help us bring some Christmas spirit!

A huge thank you to each and every single person who donated to this collection of love and hope 💜 we were absolutely blown away by the love and support that greeted us last week when we popped in to check on our baskets! On top of what you can see here, has also been gift vouchers and monetry donations that will help us purchase missing bits and pieces when required. 💗

📣📣 📣📣📣 EXCITING NEWS!!!!! 📣📣📣📣📣
Hope In A Suitcase Australia- Tamworth is growing in size and we are possibly looking to move to a bigger space soon! Thank you, thank you, thank you for aiding us get our name out there, for spreading the word and for helping us outgrow our current space!

Absolutely I agree, "Something is better than nothing at all"
BUT
This is not the mentality or heart in which the HIASC vision was birthed.

This mentality not only fails to align with our mission but actually strengthens the very culture and stigma around children in out-of-home care that we are striving to change.

We aim to send EVERY CHILD entering out-of-home care a message that they are WORTHY, LOVED, & MATTER.
To plant the seeds of self-worth and self-esteem, to empower, encourage and provide hope.

We DON'T want to strengthen or encourage those beliefs and neural pathways of,
"I'm not worthy" "I don't deserve good things" "I'm worthless & unwanted like garbage" "I'm unloved".

So please remember when wanting to donate or support HIASC, ask yourself,
'What message is my donation sending these children?'

We understand secondhand items/clothing are useful BUT for HIASC and the message we want to send,
PLEASE take this moment to 100% appreciate their worth.
Some of these children will have never owned something new.
This is a chance for us to change that.

ALL items need to be new please.
*they dont need to have tags on but please only donate with the above in mind.

We appreciate all the wonderful support which enable us to, together, make a difference!!!

A HUGE shoutout to the Tamworth Masters Hockey teams this year for your amazing fundraising efforts!! Over the course of their three day carnival they raised approximately $800 by fining each other for various reasons 🤣🤣 they then used this money to purchase and build 4 fully packed suitcases and donated them to Hope in a Suitcase Tamworth!

We are beyond thankful for this wonderful heartfelt donation!! One bag has already found its owner! Thank you again Tamworth Hockey 💚🤍💚

This week we sent out five suitcases to five beautiful children. We are sure they will be absolutely thrilled with all the goodies in their bags!! 💗💗💗💗💗

These five were all tailor made for these kiddos as their caseworkers were able to give us a bit of extra information about their kiddos. For example the boys loved outdoor play and the girls love doing craft and covering the fridge in their creations!

58 Suitcases delivered to Victorian child protection services today.
A very big thank you to everyone involved in helping make an empowering difference to the lives of children and young people entering out of home care.
Our suitcases mean so much more than the items they contain, they carry with them a positive message of love and hope for a brighter future 💗

Happy Spring Everyone!! 💐 We apologise for being so quiet on the page of late. Despite this, things have still been happening behind the scenes.

A massive thank you goes out to Tamworth Friendship Knitting Group, the staff at Kootingal Public School, the team at Tamworth Fencing, Major Tony from The Salvation Army Tamworth, Lee B, Kylie S and any other local anonymous donators for all your wonderful and heartfelt donations!! Honestly we do not have enough words to express our thanks! We have been absolutely overwhelmed with local genorosity of late 💜💗💜💗

A special thanks also goes out to Michael from Glenn Innes! He heard the story on the radio and wanted to help out. He got together a box of donations and posted them to us! 🧡💚 We will be looking to contact agencies up that way to extend our help and put those donations back into the community.

Our thanks, as always, goes out to our two amazing businesses being HIAS drop points: PRD Tamworth and Tamworth Top State Office Supplies. We couldn't do it without you! ❤️🖤 💙❤️ As well as our little team of packers, who will make themselves available at short notice to pack a suitcase or grab a couple of items from the shops if we are missing something. 🥰

We have also had some suitcases going out the door to very deserving little people in the last month. We are sure the suitcases filled with love, joy and hope (thanks to you!) have helped improve their journey or at least made them smile even for a moment in a time of unknown. 🥰🌻

Thank you again to everyone for your support whether its through donations or even just following the page. Please be sure to share the post to continue to help spread the word!

This beautiful little case was part of the PRD Tamworth collection last week. It was donated almost fully packed. The only thing we needed to add was a blanket, two outfits and a play toy. A very heartfelt thank you to the beautiful soul that donated this suitcase of love ❤️ ps we absolutely adore the rainbow hedgehog!! 😍

Popped into PRD Tamworth this week to see how our donation point was going and was welcomed with all these beautiful goodies!!! A huge and heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who has donated. It is so greatly appreciated! Some has already been packed up into suitcases and on their way to make a child smile! Again, THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!! 💖💖💖

What a lovely night spent with the ladies at Connect Tamworth Women's Network. It was an absolute pleasure to speak with you tonight. Biggest thank you again for inviting us and for your heartfelt generosity! 💞💞💞

A recent delivery to Pathfinders Tamworth for some beautiful children in need. 💗 Thank you to Pathfinders for getting in contact with us and bringing us on board to help them support the kiddos the best we can! Together we can help make a difference 💟

🎄THE GIFT OF GIVING FOR CHRISTMAS IN JULY! 🎄

During the month of July, Hope in a Suitcase Tamworth Region is celebrating Christmas in July with the gift of giving. We are looking for businesses, daycares, church groups and/or community organisations in Tamworth, Armidale, Gunnedah and Quirindi that would be interested in hosting an in-house donation drive.

Its pretty simple, for the month of July you staff, parents, group members collect items to donate that can be used to build suitcases of hope, love and new beginnings for children in the local region. At the end of the month, donations can either be picked up by us from you or they can be dropped to a local donation drop point.

How can we help you get organised:
❤️ We can organise labels to pick from
❤️ We can organise a basket/bucket for donation collections
❤️ We can provide information pack that includes lists of what goes into each suitcase depending on the age of the child to give ideas of what to donate, as well as more information about the organisation is about and what we do.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, to get more information or to organise a donation drive :)

WE NEED YOUR HELP PLEASE!!!

We have just picked up a new agency and they have requested 20 suitcases as a starting point.

Would you be able to help us fill these suitcases of hope, love and new beginnings:

Items we are seeking:
☆Suitcases and/or duffle bags
☆baby clothes including singlets and socks
☆other essential baby items such as bottles, dummies, blankets, wraps, bibs and toys
☆kids information books, early chapter books and/or graphic novels
☆soft cuddle toys
☆hair brushes and elastics
☆winter clothes in sizes 8 to 12 for boys & girls
☆winter clothes, jammies and underwear in 14, 16 and 18 for boys and girls
☆small activites for teens

Drop off locations: PRD Tamworth and Top State Office Supplies Bourke St Tamworth.

❤🧡💛💚💙💜💛❤

In the past fortnight, eight suitcases of hope and happiness have gone out to the kiddos in our region between Tamworth, Armidale and Gunnedah.






❤🧡💛💚💙💜💛❤

A behind the scences look at what packing days look like. Checklists, empty suitcases, piles of belongings, organised tubs by age and size and team work to juggle getting these bags of love and hope packed between our day jobs 💜

Popped into PRD Tamworth earlier this week to pick up donations that had been dropped off. Thank you to the kind hearted people for your donations. They are greatly appreciated 💜💜

This is an example of some of the donations collected Little packs that can be added to a suitcase in the making. One went straight into a suitcase before the photo was taken.

📣📣 CASEWORKERS & FORSTER CARERS 📣📣

🗺 TAMWORTH, QUIRINDI, GUNNEDAH, ARMIDALE, INVERELL, SCONE & EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN 🗺

Tag your caseworker friends! 🗂 🫂
Tag your forster carer friends 🙋‍♀️🙋🤱👨‍🍼👨‍👩‍👦👩‍👦👨‍👦👩‍👩‍👦‍👦
Tag your friends that work in the out-of-home care system and child protection! 🏠 💼

We are still trying to connect with agencies both locally and around the region. If you are or know anyone in the above roles, please, please, please give them a shout out or send us a message. Hopefully we can make those connections we need to support the kiddos and carers!

Share and tag like crazy! Help spread the word! 💕

It is fantastic having the wonderful team at PRD Tamworth on board to help share and support our wonderful organisation! Thank you guys!

Hope in a Suitcase Tamworth has teamed up with the amazing team at PRD Tamworth for the next couple of months as a donation drop off point. Thank you so much to PRD for jumping on board to help support our wonderful cause! ❤🖤❤

Donations can be dropped in the baskets inside the office on the corner of Bridge and Marius Street,
Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm or Saturday 9am - 12pm.

PRD Tamworth and Hope in a Suitcase Tamworth working together because every child matters! 💜

Picked up these wonderful community donations from our drop point Top States Office Supplies Pty LTD
A huge heartfelt thank you going out to the very generous community members who donated these items and bags 💜💙💛

ATTENTION EVERYONE!! LET'S DO THIS!!

Help us, help you to support them!



Tag your caseworker friends! 🗂👨‍🍼🤸‍♀️🫂
Tag your friends that work in the out-of-home care system and child protection! 🏠👩‍👦💼
Tag your healthcare worker friends!🏥🧑‍⚕️👩‍⚕️
Tag your police and teacher friends!👮👮‍♀️🧑‍🏫👩‍🏫

Share and tag like crazy! Help spread the word! 💕

“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over again.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald

I truly believe its never too late to plant a seed of Love, self-worth, & hope.
We are passionate about empowering children 0-18years, not just the little ones.
Thats why we work hard to ensure webare catering to the needs of the older children.
Recently we delivered 12 bags to Wandyali in Lake Maquarie that were just for the older kids...because THEY ARE WORTHY.

These children;
ARE NOT 'too far gone',
ARE NOT 'the problem children'
ARE NOT 'ruined'
And
ARE NOT 'destined to repeat the cycle'

These children;
ARE Destined for greatness
ARE Capable
ARE Worthy
And
ARE stronger and more resilient than some of us will ever be.

These children:
HAVE been through trauma.
HAVE had people give up on them.
HAVE been hurt.
And
HAVE had people walk away from them.

LETS NOT REPEAT THIS, LETS CHANGE OUR ATTITUDE, LETS BE THEIR SOMEBODY, AND LETS EMPOWER THEM & REMIND THEM OF THEIR WORTH.






❤️