How Your Gift Changes Lives

 

Your legacy could leave a lasting impact

Meet Jordon-Jo

Image: Happy Galilee Student

Meet Georgina

Image: Happy senior lady

 

Jordan-Jo knows first-hand the challenges of obtaining a school education through the mainstream school system when the odds are stacked against you.

Living in a shelter with her mum and struggling with dyslexia, Jordon-Jo attended 10 high schools, at all of which she experienced bullying, before dropping out halfway through year nine. She thought her education was over.

That’s when she discovered Communities at Work’s Galilee School, a small independent school with a passion for delivering learner-centred, strengths-based education for disengaged and vulnerable young people in Years 7-12 to help them achieve their education and training goals.

“My life changed when I walked through those doors,” Jordan-Jo said. “If I hadn’t walked into Galilee School when I did, I think I’d be dead.”

Galilee School encourages young people to start considering themselves differently, identifying that they do have the potential for success and hope for the future.

“We ask them to say: ‘OK, your life up to this point may not have gone to script, but what’s happened to you in the past has brought you here today, and made you who you are’,” School Principal Tim McNevin said.

Thanks to Galilee School, Jordon-Jo, and other students like her, now have a hope for the future, with the once improbable goal of achieving a Year 12 Certificate now firmly within reach, and with training and apprenticeship opportunities helping students become job-ready.

“It’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me,” Jordan-Jo said.

When you include Communities at Work in your Will, you help create a brighter future for students like Jordon-Jo.

Communities at Work’s Galilee School is resolutely forward-focused, with plans to assist even more vulnerable and disadvantaged young people across the ACT and Capital Region, but we can’t do it without your help.

 

Georgina is one of many older Canberrans who has experienced the loneliness and social isolation that can occur after losing a loved one.

For four and a half years, Georgina dedicated her days to caring for her husband as he slowly declined from dementia. She was his nurse, carer and cook, but she loved her husband dearly and said caring for him through his final years was one of the greatest achievements of her life.

In 2016, when he passed away, Georgina struggled to cope with his death.

“For the next five months,” she said, “I sat at home looking at photographs, missing him, crying and going into depression.”

Then, one Tuesday, Georgina woke up and decided it was time to make a change.

“I said to myself, ‘this is the wrong thing, I can’t do this and he wouldn’t want me to do this’.”

Georgina remembered seeing a sign for Communities at Work’s Seniors Group advertised at her local shopping centre and decided to visit them. When she arrived staff members, Leah and Bianca, were heading home for the day, but rather than ask her to return at another time, Georgina was welcomed in for a chat.

“They sat me down and listened to me,” she said, “They saved my life. I don’t think I would be here without them.”

Communities at Work’s Seniors and Disability programs aim to enhance independence, social inclusion and well-being in an environment characterised by equity, trust and respect.

Since becoming a member in 2016, Georgina has gained valuable friendships and has even been able to help others who have struggled through similar experiences.

When you include Communities at Work in your Will, you help enrich the lives of people like Georgina living in the ACT and Capital Region.

 

 


How do I find out more information?

Check out the Frequently Asked Questions, download our free Wills guide, or click here Get in Touch.

 

 

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