Partner and Charity Committee Chair Jim Dwyer OAM details the committee's aims.
The Allens' Charity Committee – made up of partners and staff from across Australia – aims to provide assistance to those in need.
Each year, the committee considers proposals for financial support from Australian charitable organisations with the goal of investing in long-term relationships.
Our people also contribute their time to many charitable organisations.
We strongly value the relationships we have formed with charitable organisations, as well as the individual ties our people have developed through volunteering, directorships and participating at charity events.
Contact: charity@aar.com.au
OverviewIn 2008 – 2009, we:
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- Charities we have supported
- Victorian bush fire response
- Allens fellowships
- Photo gallery
- National projects
- Our people in the community
- Fundraising days and events
Charities we have supported
- Estia House – Queensland
- The Smith Family – Queensland
- Rape Crisis Centre – NSW
- Blackwood Centre for Adolescent Development – Victoria
- Charlie's Leukaemia Foundation – Western Australia
- Ho Chi Minh City Children's Hospital No 2
- Charities we have support
Estia House – Queensland
Estia House is a new respite facility for families and carers of children and young people with high-need disabilities. It offers up to four weeks of respite care per year, and can assist up to 56 families per year. Estia House allows families and carers to have a genuine break from their caring role. Allens contributed to the development of a specialised sensory playground at Estia House, including the provision of therapeutic recreational equipment.
The Global Compact commits the firm to aligning our operations and strategies with 10 universally accepted principles, covering human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.
The Smith Family – Queensland
Damian Foley, General Manager Queensland at The Smith Family, fills us in on the organisation and how Allens' donation will help.
Rape Crisis Centre – NSW
The NSW Rape Crisis Centre provides 24/7 telephone and online crisis services for anyone in New South Wales who has experienced sexual violence. The centre has an online therapeutic group, which allows victims to engage in an online forum with experienced counsellors. This year, Allens funded new IT software which will allow counsellors to facilitate 'call to one side' chats for victims identified as having severe distress issues, and in many cases, suicidal tendencies. The technology enables a secure chat room environment for one-on-one sessions.
Image: Charity Committee Paralegal Amy Dobbin and Lawyer Louise Chau, with NSW Rape Crisis Centre's General Manager Karen Willis, and Crisis Counsellor Jacqui Winger.
Blackwood Centre for Adolescent Development – Victoria
Blackwood Centre for Adolescent Development is a six-month early intervention program that focuses on at-risk secondary school students. For the past five years, Allens has supported the program's 'Deep Pass Wilderness Camp', a challenging outdoor education program that develops leadership and social skills to help students cope when they return to mainstream schooling. This year, Allens provided Blackwood with funds to build a small gymnasium so formal fitness and a diet and nutrition element can be added to the program.
Image: David Hayes, Partner Lynne Jensen, His Honour Mr Edwin Batt and Partner Anne Ferguson unveil the new gym at the Blackwood Centre.
Charlie's Leukaemia Foundation – Western Australia
Allens donated to the Charlie's Leukaemia Foundation for the purchase of a cryo-preservation tank, an important piece of equipment used in research into leukaemia and lymphoma. Allens' donation was in memory of Chelsea Gray, an important and enthusiastic member of the Perth team, who lost her battle with Myelodysplastic Syndrome in May 2008. Dr Gavin Cull, a Haematology Consultant and Director of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Program at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, said the donation would be an invaluable contribution to the centre, which treats blood-related cancers and other conditions.
Image: Andrew Pascoe (Perth Partner), Dr Gavin Cull (Haematology Consultant and Director of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Program at SCGH) and Tony Gray (Chelsea's father).
Ho Chi Minh City Children's Hospital No 2
The Children's Hospital No 2 is located behind Allens' offices in Ho Chi Minh City. To mark International Children's Day in June 2009, the office donated funds so that 10 children could be treated in the hospital. These disadvantaged children came from rural and remote areas of Southern Vietnam.
Image: Ho Chi Minh City Children's Hospital No 2.
Charities we have support
From the decade-long Allens Arthur Robinson Neurology Fellowship at Sydney's Children Hospital, to the response to the Victorian bush fires, our Charity Committee works hard with the firm and our people to provide support to those in need.
In recent years:
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Adolescent Drug & Alcohol Withdrawal Service, QLD Alzheimer's Australia, VIC Autism Spectrum Australia, NSW Awesome Arts, WA Berry Street Victoria Blackwood Centre for Adolescent Development, VIC Blue Sky Foundation, QLD Bridge for Asylum Seekers Foundation, NSW Cana Communities, NSW Case for Refugees, WA Cerebral Palsy League of Queensland Charlie's Leukaemia Foundation, WA Down Syndrome Association of Queensland Education Foundation, VIC Epworth Foundation, VIC Estia House, QLD Filling the Gap Indigenous Dental Program, QLD Flat Out, VIC Fred Hollows Foundation, QLD Give it a Go Recreation, WA |
Jalaris Aboriginal Corporation Kids Future Club, WA Learning Links, NSW Mater Foundation, QLD Mental Illness Fellowship Victoria Murdoch Children's Research Institute, VIC Northcott Disability Services, NSW NSW Rape Crisis Centre, NSW Odyssey House Victoria Open Family Australia, VIC Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation, VIC Passages Resource Centre, WA Pathways Early Childhood Intervention, Inc NSW Peter McCallum Cancer Centre, VIC Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, WA Prostate Cancer Foundation, VIC Rocky Bay Inc, WA Royal Life Saving Society, WA Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind, VIC Royal Women's Hospital Foundation, NSW |
SHINE for Kids Co-op, NSW Surf Life Saving Australia St Lucy's School, NSW Stewart House, NSW Street Swags, QLD Teen Challenge, WA Turning Point, VIC Fred Hollows Foundation, NSW & NT The Salvation Army, WA The Smith Family, VIC The Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick, NSW Technical Aid to the Disabled, NSW Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture, VIC Vision Australia, VIC Wesley Research Institute, QLD Whitelion Inc, VIC Youngcare Foundation, QLD YWCA, VIC |
Victorian bush fire response
Our people donated blood for burns victims, and clothes and other items were collected for those affected by the fires.
Victorians – and the whole of Australia – were deeply affected by the devastating Black Saturday bushfire on 7 February 2009 that killed 173 people and destroyed thousands of homes and bushland across the state.
Allens employees donated to the Australian Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Fund, raising more than A$70,000. The firm matched this contribution, so that a total of A$140,000 was donated.
Our people donated blood for burns victims, and clothes and other items were collected for those affected by the fires.
Our Melbourne lawyers worked alongside the Bushfire Legal Help relief centre to assist fire victims with a range of immediate and ongoing legal issues.
These included re-establishing identities, varying home mortgages and handling the debts of deceased family members.
Working with the Public Interest Law Clearing House, Allens also advised on bushfire-related issues, like managing the consequences that fire damage has had on long-term pasture leases and the running of businesses.
Allens fellowships
- Sydney Children's Hospital Neurology Fellowship
- Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre's Allens Research to Practice Fellowship
- Wesley Research Institute
Sydney Children's Hospital Neurology Fellowship
In its 11th year, the Allens Arthur Robinson Neurology Fellowship provides a paediatrics doctor with the opportunity to receive intensive paediatric neurology training from world-class clinicians at the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick.
Through the Fellowship, Allens Fellows have helped around 7000 young patients with neurological problems, including epilepsy, brain tumours and cerebral palsy.
The doctors trained through the Fellowship boost the numbers of those skilled in paediatric neurology in Australia and New Zealand, resulting in improved care for children suffering from brain problems.
Learn about the work of the Neurology Fellows.
I know I speak on behalf of A/Prof Annie Bye and Prof
Les White when we say you have made a remarkable
difference to the care and treatment of children with
neurological disorders being treated at Sydney
Children's Hospital. Additionally, your support is
helping to ensure the future of children's healthcare is
the highest possible standard through your vital
investment in training paediatric neurology specialists
who will benefit the children from Sydney, NSW and
beyond for decades to come.
Adam Check, Sydney Children's Hospital Foundation Chief Executive.
Image: Sydney Children's Hospital's Professor Les White and Chief Executive Partner Michael Rose at the 10-year Sydney Children's Hospital Celebration.
Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre's Allens Research to Practice Fellowship
Turning Point is formally affiliated with St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and the University of Melbourne.
Turning Point strives to promote and maximise the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities living with – and affected by – alcohol and other drug-related harms. In addition to their work, Turning Point's goal is to be a world-leading service delivery and research and development centre.
This year, the Charity Committee provided financial support to Dr Jacqui Cameron – recipient of the 2009 Allens Research to Practice Fellowship - so that she can continue this goal.
The Fellowship aims to increase the 'speed to market' of research and Jacqui's primary focus is to help practitioners understand and use the available research to improve their clinical case note management in an alcohol and drug clinical setting.
Ultimately, the Fellowship will help both clients who need assistance, as well as clinicians across the sector.
By improving the systems in which we collect
information about our clients, and then showing a wider cross-section of health
care organisations, we will improve the client outcomes. It is fantastic to be
able to make valuable changes and see what we are doing is making a difference.
Dr Jacqui Cameron, 2009 Allens Research to Practice Fellow.
Wesley Research Institute
The firm provided funding to the Wesley Research Institute for a pilot study into the training of health care workers in Vietnam so they can improve the treatment of patients.
The funding enabled a Vietnamese doctor, Dr Nguyen Thi Ut, from the National Hospital of Paediatrics in Hanoi, to be trained at the Wesley Research Institute in Patient Outcome Research. Dr Nguyen undertook research and training in Brisbane so that she can implement the findings in Vietnam.
As part of Dr Nguyen's research training program, she established a database of information on premature babies admitted to the Wesley Hospital special care nursery with breathing problems. Dr Nguyen returned to Hanoi in December to begin the process of teaching her medical colleagues the kind of clinical research practices that are often taken for granted in Australia.
In
Vietnam, thousands of little children are suffering too
much. We need the resources and the knowledge to help us
diagnose more accurately, to treat children resulting in
less pain and suffering and to make sure they recover
properly.
Dr Nguyen Thi Ut
National projects
For five years now, each Australian state has set aside part of their Charity Committee budget for national projects that the entire firm can support.
Surf Life Saving Australia
Part of the money saved from the firm's decision to switch to electronic Christmas cards was donated to the Surf Life Saving Foundation. The donation was used to supply specialised equipment for training young boys and girls to be surf lifesavers – otherwise known as nippers.
St Lucy's School
St Lucy's School was established in 1938 as a school for blind children. Today it provides services to children with a range of disabilities, including autism, cognitive impairment, brain injury and vision or hearing impairments.
In recent years, St Lucy’s School has developed a strong focus on the creative arts. The school invites specialists and visiting artists to work with the students.
So that this program can be extended to Indigenous students living in remote areas, the firm funded special webcam technology to give students access to the teaching provided by the visiting artists and specialists.
The camera will also be used to provide speech therapy and occupational therapy support to indigenous schools in remote areas of New South Wales.
Ganbina Koori Economic Employment and Training Agency
Ganbina Koori Economic Employment and Training Agency was established in 1997 as the peak Indigenous body for economic, employment and training issues in the Goulburn Valley area. The Indigenous community in the Goulburn Valley is the largest Indigenous community in regional Victoria. Within the community, unemployment is 77.6 per cent. Ganbina's vision is to reduce unemployment and to enable young Indigenous people to maximise the opportunities available to them.
In order to assist Ganbina, the firm supported the Jobs4U2 Program, which will engage around 140 young people and help them to realise their career potential and contribute to local business and industry.
Image: Senior Associate Peter Haig and Partner Lynne Jensen with Ganbina's Neville Atkinson.
Our people in the community
- Sophie Ryan – UN Consultant
- Edwina Sinclair and Caroline Clark and Josephite Community Aid
- Celia Barnett – President of I-India Project Australia
- LEAPS! Program
Sophie Ryan – UN Consultant
Lawyer and Charity Committee member Sophie Ryan recently took a six-month leave of absence to work as a United Nations consultant in Vienna, focusing on development initiatives relating to Sudanese prisons.
Sadly, almost half of the current prison population in Sudan are remand prisoners – meaning they have not yet been given a sentence or even a trial – as decades of fighting have all but destroyed many government institutions, including the judicial system.
Sophie talks about her experience in Sudan.
Edwina Sinclair and Caroline Clark and Josephite Community Aid
Josephite Community Aid (JCA) is an organisation committed to aiding people who are poor and underprivileged. JCA assists refugees – mostly from Southern Sudan and Darfur, Afghanistan and Iraq – people with mental and physical illness, and anyone suffering distress or loneliness.
The JCA volunteers provide friendship and practical assistance through teaching English, home visits, weekends away, homework tutoring, referral to welfare agencies and providing food, furniture and other essentials for their homes.
Edwina Sinclair, a lawyer in the Sydney office, is a member of the JCA Management Committee and has worked with JCA for more than 10 years, assisting with the coordination of the annual Christmas Hamper Appeal.
Each year, generous benefactors donate magnificent Christmas hampers for newly arrived refugee families. The hampers are delivered by volunteers to the families' homes. Last year, more than 200 hampers delivered and more than 100 volunteers turned up for the event, including a number of Allens lawyers.
Caroline Clark, People & Development Manager in Sydney, has also been involved with JCA over many years, most recently volunteering at the St. Bakhita Centre in Flemington – an initiative in association with JCA. At the Centre, women from Southern Sudan and Darfur meet to learn English, computer skills, sewing and to attend parenting classes, while their children are cared for by volunteers. This has become an important social event for many of these women, and an opportunity to build their skills and English.
Celia Barnett – President of I-India Project Australia
Celia Barnett, Charity Committee Paralegal from the Sydney office, is the President of I-India Project Australia, a Sydney-based not-for-profit organisation that aids Indian street children
Together with their in-country partner, I-India Project Australia is constructing a residential and educational facility for orphaned, abandoned and rescued children. So far, the first shelter home and school have been completed. The next project is the construction of a vocational training centre, which will provide jewellery-making and tailoring lessons to the children. The construction project is helping to stem the flow of villagers migrating from the village to the cities in search for work, which invariably leads to life on the streets. It provides opportunities for local workers to gain experience and expertise in the construction field, as well as helping to reduce poverty by stimulating the local economy.
Image: Celia and friends enjoy dinner at the shelter home.
LEAPS! Program
Each year, legal and non-legal Allens staff participate in LEAPS! – or Law Firms Encouraging and Assisting Promising Students – a mentoring program that has been run in partnership with the NSW Department of Education since 2005
The program focuses on Year 9 students from two Sydney schools, where a large number of students experience social and/or economic hardship. The program enables students to spend one morning 'shadowing' their mentor in the Allens offices, and a team-building excursion together. The students then visit their mentors fortnightly in the city for lunch and interactive group mentoring sessions covering issues bullying, ethics and goal setting for the remainder of the school year.
LEAPS! motivates students to set career and life goals and emphasises the importance of finishing high school and undertaking various types of further education. Our employees involved in LEAPS! find the program extremely rewarding and enjoy watching the noticeable difference in all students at the end of the year.
It's
really fulfilling to see the students develop over the course of the program
with the help of their mentors. We also find that the mentors learn a lot from
their students – in part the ability to rediscover the 14-year-old in
themselves.
Hayden Smith
Image: Lawyer Hayden Smith and his LEAPS! student.
Fundraising days and events
Our people have participated in many fundraising days and events including:
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For more information about the Charity Committee, please contact charity@aar.com.au.
