Community Involvement

World's Greatest Shave

Every March thousands of people shave, colour and wax their hair to raise funds for the Leukaemia Foundation. 

In 2011, Allan Swan, Principal and head of our EPSS team, chose to shave off his hair for the cause.  Members of staff were given the opportunity to donate and have their turn with the hair clippers at our recent monthly drinks evening.  Many thanks for your bravery Allan and bringing awareness to the fact that:

Every hour, someone in Australia is diagnosed with leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma. Every two hours, someone dies from one of these blood cancers.

The money raised in this awareness and fundraising campaign is used by the Leukaemia Foundation to fund services to support patients and families living with leukaemias, lymphomas, myeloma and related blood disorders. The fundraising also funds blood cancer research to find better treatments and cures.

Click here 1 2 3 4 5 to witness the great shave!

Movember

For the past two years a number of our staff members have participated in "Movember".  "Movember" has the sole aim of raising vital funds and awareness for men's health, specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.

Men sporting Movember moustaches, known as Mo Bros, become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November and through their actions and words raise awareness by promoting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men's health.  We trust our clients can forgive the "70s" style moustaches they encounter over this period!

Supported by the women in their lives, Mo Sistas, Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo growing efforts.

Our Mo Bros and Sistas held a staff "Men's Health Morning Tea" in order to raise funds for this cause.  Click here to see our team.

Upstream Foundation

The Upstream Foundation runs the “Upstream 50km Challenge” annually with all monies raised going to a number of charities. 

The 2011 Challenge will be held on Saturday 19 November and a Moores Legal relay team is being formed.

What's involved?
* 50km walk or run from Docklands to Donvale along the picturesque Yarra River
* Enter as an individual, 50km team (2-6 people) or relay team (2-10 people). Each relay participant must walk a minimum of 30km.
* No registration fee however you must collect a minimum of $200 in donations per participant.
* All donations over $2 are tax deductible
* 100% of donations go directly to the beneficiaries.

The beneficiaries for 2011 will be:

Camp Quality
Leukaemia Foundation
Samaritan's Purse
The Leprosy Mission Australia and
Entrust Foundation.

This is an extremely well organized event with the participants coming away feeling that had conquered the challenge albeit with a few blisters.  For more information on this annual event and the beneficiaries, click here.

St Vincent De Paul - Soup Van

Moores Legal is involved in the Matthew Talbot Soup Van (Fitzroy), run by St Vincent de Paul, providing 21 volunteers on a rotational basis to support the soup van every Sunday night.  The van serves food to homeless people and people in boarding houses in inner Melbourne.

Last financial year the Fitzroy vans provided (over 7 nights):  145,800 meals, 399 people were asisted per night; and 250 people volunteered their time.

Some figures to get you thinking:

Counting the Homeless, 2006 (which includes data from the 2006 Census and other sources) showed:

• 105,00 homeless people
• 67% adults over 18 years of age
• 12% under the age of 12 years
• 21% young people between 12 ad 18 years
• 44% of homeless people were female
• 55% were single (57,182)
• 20% were couples without accompanying children (20,704)
• 26% were families (26,790 people or 7,483 families)

Most homeless people were sheltered somewhere on Census night, with 45% staying temporarily with friends or relatives, 21% staying in boarding houses and 19% staying in supported accommodation (such as hostels for the homeless, night shelters and refuges).

For more information see the St Vincent de Paul website.

Habitat for Humanity - Volunteers Day

Habitat for Humanity is a not for profit Christian based ministry seeking to make simple, safe, decent and affordable housing available to families in need.

Habitat for Humanity runs a corporate program known as 'Brush With Kindness' which utilizes the assistance of volunteers for projects for communities in need. 

In 2010 we were invited to take part in a project in Glenburn, a bushfire affected area some 90 minutes from Melbourne.  Moores Legal volunteers did some site work for an elderly couple who are re-establishing their farm and a place to live after the bushfires in 2009. 

Habitat had arranged for a house on the property to be restumped and power to be connected. A huge renovation job took place with many of the old weatherboards being replaced and a number of holes filled.  It needed to be lined and fitted out with kitchen, bathroom, etc inside and a deck structure put around the house.  Our Moores team was able to complete the last coat of paint in the interior and painted a large portion of the exterior as well.  It was hoped that once a plumber was brought in, the elderly couple would be able to move in to the house before winter set in. 

This initiative presented Moores with an opportunity to give to the community as part of our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility.

For those of us who participated, it was a rare opportunity to help a community and make a significant difference in someone else's life.  All came away grateful for the experience and with some painting skills!    To see some of the fun had on the day, click here 1 2 3 .

To find out more about Habitat for Humanity and the work that they do click here.