Canberra local, Natalie Tanchevski has been honoured for her tireless work raising funds to support people doing it tough at Christmas by receiving the ACT Hero of Hope Award for 2024.
National Community Fundraising Manager for The Salvation Army, Simon Gregory, said that Natalie’s fundraising efforts over the last 5 years through the Hundreds for Thousands campaign makes her the nation’s most successful community fundraiser in that time. “We wanted to honour the work Natalie has done in raising over $400,000 to directly support families and individuals who find themselves in financial difficulty at Christmas time. Since starting the campaign back in 2019, Natalie has helped over 4,000 people get the support they need and she is a worthy recipient of our ‘Hero of Hope’ award, which recognises outstanding contributions to the work of The Salvation Army by members of the community.
Upon receiving her award, Mrs Tanchevski said she was delighted to be recognised for all of her efforts. “My goal 5 years ago was to raise $10,000 to help 100 local families in need and in the years that have followed that target has jumped, just a little bit, to $100,000 to help 1000 families! This year will be my 6th year raising money for the Salvos and although we are still yet to crack our yearly $100,000 goal, I am proud to say that to date we have raised almost $400,000 to support our local community.”
“Receiving the ‘Hero of Hope’ Award was very unexpected but was so lovely to be recognised for the work I’ve put in to making the campaign a success. This award represents not only my own efforts but the collective efforts of every single person who has supported me, whether through financial contributions, spreading the word, or offering encouragement along the way.” said Mrs Tanchevski.
This year’s Hundreds for Thousands campaign is well underway and is again partnering with local ACT and South NSW businesses to raise valuable for families experience hardship this Christmas. All funds donated by the public will be matched by a “super donor”, meaning that every dollar donated will see two dollars go to those in need.
“Things are clearly not getting any easier for a lot of people in our community. Local Salvation Army centres continue to receive hundreds of calls for support each week and it’s only through amazing fundraisers like Natalie and the Hundreds for Thousands Campaign that we can afford to support as many people as we have this Christmas”, said Mr Gregory.
Research conducted by The Salvation Army in the lead-up to Christmas showed that an increasing number of people are expecting to be adversely affected by the continuing cost-of-living crisis. “Our research found that 7 in 10 people are watching their spending more than last year and nearly half of parents surveyed were forced to spend less on their kids”, Mr Gregory said. “Sadly, 1 in 10 people in our community will be forced to seek help from charities like The Salvation Army, with half of those looking for support for the first time.
Locals are encouraged to support their closest Salvation Army sites, with 6 locations around Canberra, as well as sites in Queanbeyan, Yass, Cooma and Goulburn participating. “Anyone wanting to donate to their local salvos can go to hundredsforthousands.salvationarmy.org.au and make a donation to their location of choice”, said Mrs Tanchevski. “Every dollar makes a difference as we try and help as many local as possible this Christmas.”
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Contact details:
For media comment please contact Simon Gregory, National Community Fundraising Manager on 0423 962 326 or at simon.gregory@salvationarmy.org.au.