A voice for kids in the Macleay region

Kempsey Family Support Service has been able to expand its services thanks to a $5,750 grant from Enterprise & Training Company (ETC) for their Speak Out 4 Kids program.

Kempsey Family Support Service’s Manager Diane Garfield said the ETC grant has enabled them to reach a much broader group of children.

“The ETC grant has allowed us to continue the educational side of our Speak Out 4 Kids (SO4K) program. The funding allows the workers to travel, purchase the required resources and spend the time with the children at local primary schools,” Ms Garfield said.

Ms Garfield said there is not many programs available to help children, with most programs aimed at assisting mainly adult and youth.

“We saw the gap and that’s why we applied for the funding to help fill that gap,” Ms Garfield said.

SO4K is provided to children at primary schools in the Kempsey Macleay region in collaboration with other child focused agencies and in partnership with the Department of Education.

The program provides children with practical awareness sessions on how to make safe choices, identify their safe people and to focus community attention on the importance of a safe community.

“It stimulates the children’s imagination when they participate in the creative art activities. These sessions focus on the health, wellbeing and safety of children in our community” Ms Garfield said.

“The safety and wellbeing of children is a community responsibility. We enjoy partnering with the schools to support safe children, strong families and supportive communities.”

The Kempsey Family Support Service is located at 21 Verge Street and provides services to support the wellbeing and nurturing of children and families.

ETC Director Ian Preston said it was a pleasure to be able to support the Kempsey Family Support Service.

“The ETC Community Support Fund is designed to help organisations improve the social and economic development of local communities,” Mr Preston said.

“ETC is proud to be a not-for-profit company and we are confident the money we are donating will help make a more positive future for our community.

“Since 1989, ETC has placed over 53,000 Australians into jobs, trained more than 25,000 people, helped over 36,000 small businesses to start-up and grow, and contributed in excess of $25 million to the local communities in which we operate.”