Protea Place asks Toowoomba residents to ‘have a heart’ at Christmas through end-of-year appeal

Toowoomba’s only drop-in centre for women facing homelessness and other disadvantages is calling on residents to support its Christmas appeal, after a difficult 12 months.

Amanda Dalton and the team at Protea Place might only be into their second year of operation, but they know the need for support aimed at disadvantaged women is only growing by the day.

Toowoomba’s only women’s drop-in centre has launched its Christmas appeal this week, with the hoping of raising thousands to keep providing a wide variety of services.

Speaking outside the organisation’s pop-up stall in Grand Central, Ms Dalton said the Christmas Heart Appeal was especially important this year.

“100 per cent of donations go straight to the frontline at Protea Place, to help our ladies through Christmas and the New Year,” she said.

“We provide a wide range of those practical supports, meals to laundry and showers, clothing and right through to case management and support.

“We are new but some days it doesn’t feel like that.

“We have huge numbers of women coming in for support, which sadly is the reality.

“We just feel grateful that we are there and can get some tangible outcomes for women.”

Ms Dalton urged residents to support all support services and charities over Christmas, particularly given the current economic climate.

“The good thing about Toowoomba is there are a huge list of amazing organisations and we do work closely together,” she said.

“We’re all needing those charity dollars, most of us rely on the kindness of the community.”

The Protea Place volunteers will be outside Sportsgirl on level one of Grand Central until Sunday, selling raffles for its major hamper prize.

For more information, you can Protea Place on Facebook.

Originally published as Protea Place asks Toowoomba residents to ‘have a heart’ at Christmas through end-of-year appeal