Community Engagement
Community partners
GMHBA works with local partners to provide a range of in-person volunteering activities for our staff to help them connect and give back to the communities where we operate.
These activities include sorting donations to support communities in need, environmental programs supporting indigenous landscapes or regenerative farming, and participating in activities based on the principles of social inclusion, friendship and connection.
The Resilience Project delivers emotionally engaging programs to schools, sports clubs and businesses, providing practical, evidence-based mental health strategies to build resilience and happiness.
As part of our partnership with The Resilience Project and the Geelong Football Club, we were delighted to provide access to 1,893 students from 5 schools to The Resilience Project in 2024.
We look forward to continuing with this program in 2025 to help students continue developing the tools they need to build long-term resilience.
This well-established program plays an important role, equipping players, coaches, and parents with tools to identify issues early, raise concerns, have conversations, and find resources to support mental health issues. Participants are equipped to have conversations in their normal social settings with friends and family members, and in the broader community.
In 2024, 1,773 young people participated in Read the Play programs, and GMHBA was delighted to fund training for 40 Player Wellbeing Officers.
Volunteering partners
GMHBA works with local partners to provide a range of in-person volunteering activities for our staff to help them connect and give back to the communities where we operate.
These activities include sorting donations to support communities in need, environmental programs supporting indigenous landscapes or regenerative farming, and participating in activities based on the principles of social inclusion, friendship and connection.
Bellarine Catchment Network is an organisation that helps to educate locals about the native wildlife and environment that we enjoy on the Bellarine.
Through hands-on learning like aiding bush regeneration, clearing invasive weeds, and identifying local flora and fauna, the Bellarine Catchment Networks teaches us how we can continue to protect and aid our unique environment.
We love getting rid of weeds and playing a part in helping restore the natural habitat of the Bellarine.
Common Ground Project is a regenerative farm and social enterprise that promotes food security by creating fair access to locally grown, healthy food.
They exist to empower agency and advocacy by offering an inclusive space for growing, cooking, knowledge sharing, and ongoing community collaboration. CGP provide hands-on workshops, training and employment pathways through Food Knowledge programs, which directly support food relief efforts in the Geelong region.
We love getting our hands dirty and contributing where we can. Highlights for us include working in the seedling nursery, planting and weeding vegetable beds and feeding the happy chickens.
Geelong Foodshare (formerly Geelong Food Relief Centre) is a leading provider of emergency food relief throughout the Geelong region. The bulk food distribution service supplies fresh and ambient food to over 50 community organisations who do amazing work preparing meals, operating community pantries and markets or running similar food relief services. They also run two mini-marts where individuals can shop in a dignified manner, having agency to choose the fresh nutritious food they wish to eat.
In FY24 they supported over 45,000 individuals through mini-marts, and distributed 1,100,000kg of food - the equivalent of 2.2 million meals locally.
We love helping sort donations, prepare meals for the mini-mart, and repackage donations ready to distribute out to the community.
GMHBA and genU have a long-standing history of volunteering days together. Volunteering opportunities involve working alongside genU's participants in a range of fun, fulfilling and eye-opening activities. genU Adventures provide friendly, activity-based sessions with people living with a disability. These sessions aim to support social connections through activities – such as surfing, kayaking, bushwalking and cycling – to enrich the life experiences of participants and volunteers.
We love making and being a friend for a day!
Our Village is an organisation that GMHBA is proud to support. Our Village works to rehome essential baby and children’s items to families that need it. Our Village partners with local social services and maternal health nurses to find families that are happy to donate items they no longer need, and families that urgently need these essential items. This not only helps families but also keeps good-quality items from being discarded into landfill.
Cleaning prams, cots, kids’ shoes and other equipment is hard work! We love being about to pitch in and help the regular volunteers at Our Village with what can be a really tough job. They do an amazing job for so many families in need, and it’s really rewarding to be able to contribute.