Bankstown Sports Club

Hope for the Homeless

As homelessness continues to rise across NSW, Bankstown Sports Club has made community wellbeing a priority, delivering a suite of initiatives in 2025–2026 to support people experiencing housing insecurity in the Canterbury‑Bankstown region. With rough sleeping increasing by 50% statewide since 2020, and local homelessness steadily growing, the Club has taken a proactive, partnership‑driven approach.
Bankstown Sports strengthened its support through a partnership with Dignity, funding 200 blankets and 200 pillows and engaging its chefs to prepare fresh meals for the Dignity Fridge at Round About Youth Centre. As of February 2026, the Club has provided 1,150 meals to locals in need.
The Club also facilitated a new collaboration between No Home My Home and Vinnies Vans, creating a combined model of shelter, food assistance and wrap‑around care for vulnerable residents. Additional support included funding the 777 Movement’s Homeless to Home initiative and participating in the Canterbury‑Bankstown Mayor’s Sleepout, contributing $6,000 to Mission Australia.
Through practical assistance, cross‑sector partnerships and hands‑on involvement, Bankstown Sports Club is delivering meaningful, coordinated support to those experiencing homelessness — helping ensure every person in the community is met with dignity, care and hope.

Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL Club

Born Fragile, Built Strong ―Together

For more than a decade, Canterbury‑Hurlstone Park RSL Club has stood beside families facing some of life’s most fragile beginnings. The partnership began in 2014 with seed funding to establish the iSAIL Clinic, NSW’s first multidisciplinary service supporting parents navigating pregnancy and infant loss. This commitment deepened through a long‑standing relationship with RPA Newborn Care, built on compassion, collaboration and genuine community purpose.
A visit to RPA’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit transformed the Club’s support into focused action. CHP funded the first three Babyroo TN300 units for Canterbury Hospital, stabilising premature infants in their most vulnerable moments. Staff, members and sub‑clubs united to fundraise for specialised breastfeeding chairs, toys, equipment and critical neonatal needs — creating a whole‑of‑Club movement driven by personal stories and lived experience.
That momentum helped accelerate the purchase of all 10 required Babyroo units across the district, supported by partners such as the Humpty Dumpty Foundation. The Club has since backed neonatal fundraising events and is now working with RPA to support the next major priority: advanced respiratory technology for premature infants.
At CHP RSL, the belief is simple: no family should face the NICU journey alone. Through sustained support, heartfelt generosity and community unity, the Club continues to turn vulnerable beginnings into stories of resilience, hope and lifelong impact.

Canterbury League Club

Stronger Together ― Women Building Strength Together

In Term 4 2025, C‑Life Health Club and Canterbury League Club partnered with the Lakemba Public School Community Centre to deliver a groundbreaking Women’s Fitness and Wellbeing Program — a six‑week initiative supporting women from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds to improve physical health, mental wellbeing and social connection.
Using C‑Life’s private upstairs studio, the program created a culturally safe, women‑only space where participants felt comfortable to exercise freely, remove headscarves if they wished and build trust with one another. Female trainers delivered weekly sessions combining Pilates, yoga, cycling and life‑coaching modules covering mental health, heart health, diabetes education, self‑care and health literacy. On‑site child‑minding, delivered by C‑Life’s qualified Early Learning Educator, removed a major participation barrier for mothers.
The impact was immediate: women reported increased confidence, improved mood, reduced isolation and strong peer relationships. Laughter, shared milestones and a celebratory lunch at Canterbury’s Bistro marked the culmination of the program.
With a waitlist now in place and community demand growing, the Women’s Fitness and Wellbeing Program has become a standout initiative — empowering CALD women with support, skills and authentic connection.

Club Central Hurstville

Cushions of Care

For more than a decade, Club Central Hurstville has proudly supported the Zonta Breast Care Cushion Project, a compassionate health initiative that delivers specially designed breast care cushions and cancer information booklets to women recovering from breast cancer surgery. Led by the Zonta Club of Botany Bay, the project supports more than 650 local patients every year, providing comfort, dignity and reassurance at one of the most vulnerable moments in a woman’s life.
The cushions — created by Zonta member Ann Selle OAM and now used nationally and internationally — are designed to reduce pain, protect surgical sites, ease everyday movement and support better rest. Club Central’s financial grants fund essential materials such as satin fabric, sewing supplies, stuffing and booklet printing, ensuring production continues despite rising costs.
One of the most impactful contributions is the Club’s in‑kind support: free use of facilities for volunteer “stuffing days"", where Zonta members, Club Central staff and community volunteers come together to assemble cushions. The most recent event saw 73 volunteers participate — the largest turnout in the project’s history.
Through funding, facilities, volunteers and community engagement, Club Central Hurstville has helped transform a simple cushion into a powerful symbol of care, recovery and hope.

Club Taree

Rally For a Cancer Free Future

In 2025, Club Taree achieved an extraordinary milestone, raising $106,445 for the Cancer Council through the Spring Shitbox Rally — the highest fundraising total in the rally’s 15‑year history, across 47 rallies and 11,000 participating teams. Represented by CEO Paul Allan and Operations Manager Dom Liegl, the Club Taree Community Team not only topped the Spring Rally leaderboard but became the all‑time highest fundraisers in the event’s national history.
Their journey — a 3,800km adventure from Alice Springs to the Gold Coast in a $1,500 Flintstones‑themed 1992 Toyota Tarago named WILMAR — captured the imagination of the entire Manning Valley. What began as a personal tribute for Paul and Dom, who both lost parents to cancer, became a unifying community movement powered entirely by grassroots connection rather than ClubGRANTS funding.
Over ten months, Club Taree mobilised local residents, businesses and members, creating one of the region’s most visible and meaningful fundraising campaigns. Their record‑breaking contribution forms part of the Rally’s total $2.58 million raised for cancer research in 2025, and reinforces the Club’s long‑standing commitment to improving cancer outcomes for regional Australians.
What started as an adventure has become a lasting legacy — and Club Taree will return to the Rally in 2027 to continue driving toward a cancer‑free future.

DOOLEYS Lidcombe Catholic Club

Health Care on the road

In 2025 and early 2026, DOOLEYS launched a coordinated health‑access strategy to address growing inequity in healthcare across the Cumberland region. For people experiencing homelessness, financial hardship, disability or complex visa conditions, essential preventative care is often inaccessible. DOOLEYS responded by bringing services directly to those who need them most, embedding health support within trusted community touchpoints.
Through the Cumberland Wellbeing Hub, DOOLEYS partnered with Cumberland City Council and St Vincent de Paul to create a safe, consistent support environment. Building on this foundation, DOOLEYS collaborated with NSW Health to deliver a Mobile Health Clinic, offering liver disease screening, Hepatitis C testing and general health assessments for residents with limited access to medical care.
Preventative health for women was strengthened through a semi‑permanent BreastScreen NSW mobile clinic at DOOLEYS, available to the entire community and supported by paid staff screening leave. To address untreated vision and dental needs, DOOLEYS funded Mobileyes and dental outreach clinics, providing free treatment, glasses and health education to up to 80 vulnerable residents.
Further integrating cardiac prevention, DOOLEYS introduced Heartbeat of the Community, delivering walk‑in heart health checks at major events.
Together, these initiatives form an intentional, place‑based strategy that reduces barriers, improves early intervention, and redefines how clubs can drive equitable local health outcomes.

Maclean & District Bowling Club

Maclean's Community Support for Local Hospital

Maclean District Hospital has supported the Lower Clarence community for more than a century, and Maclean Bowling Club has played a pivotal role in ensuring the hospital continues to access modern, essential medical equipment. When the Maclean United Hospital Auxiliary (UHA) was at risk of folding several years ago due to a lack of committee members, Maclean Bowling Club stepped in — not only preserving the Auxiliary’s legacy, but helping rebuild it into one of the region’s most active and impactful volunteer organisations.
With the Club’s encouragement, venue support and strategic promotion, a new UHA committee was formed. Since then, Maclean Bowling Club has provided free meeting and event spaces, marketing and communications support, raffle promotion, fundraising partnerships and more than $35,000 in ClubGRANTS funding since 2021. This has dramatically reduced event costs and increased participation, enabling more funds to be directed to medical equipment.
In just the past two years, UHA Maclean has raised over $80,000 and gifted $69,000 worth of essential equipment — including a bladder scanner, hospital beds, a slit lamp and cardiograph — directly benefiting patients in a region where the nearest hospital is more than 50km away.
Through this sustained partnership, Maclean Bowling Club has helped ensure the hospital remains a lifeline for the entire Lower Clarence community, improving comfort, diagnostics, rehabilitation and dignity for patients when they need it most.

Mingara Recreation Club

Keeping Elsie's Promise ― Vision to Palliative Care

Mingara’s support of Elsie’s Project is a story of community persistence, compassion and partnership that has reshaped palliative care on the Central Coast. The journey began at Mingara in 2012, when a young woman, Oana McBride, shared the experience of her neighbour, Elsie Green — a beloved nurse who faced terminal cancer without access to a dedicated local palliative care unit. That moment sparked a 14‑year campaign by the Lions Club of Wyoming East Gosford Centennial, supported from the outset by Mingara.
Through countless public meetings, petition drives and advocacy efforts hosted at Mingara, the community secured a dedicated ward at Gosford Hospital. In 2021, the Gosford Palliative Care Unit opened — fully furnished through community donations. Since then, more than 3,500 patients have received compassionate, dignified care.
When demand revealed that 40% of patients were from the northern Central Coast, Lions and Mingara advocated again — leading to the approval of a 12‑bed palliative care unit at Wyong Hospital, opening in 2026. In 2025, a paediatric palliative care ward was also established, completing the region’s first full continuum of end‑of‑life care from newborns to adults.
Mingara has supported this vision through sustained cash grants, in‑kind support, event hosting and community mobilisation — including major fundraisers and organic generosity through groups like the Aqua Ladies.
Elsie’s Project now stands as a model of how a club, a community and a cause can work together to deliver lasting, life‑changing health infrastructure.

Mounties

Improving Healthcare with Little Wings and CareFlight

Mounties Group is transforming healthcare access across New South Wales through two long‑standing, life‑saving partnerships with Little Wings and CareFlight. Together, these initiatives ensure that vulnerable children, regional families and patients facing medical emergencies can reach critical care when it matters most.
With a $50,000 sponsorship, Mounties Group enabled Little Wings to expand its free air‑transport service, supporting 100 additional families in one year. This vital service ensures children from regional and remote areas can attend specialist appointments without delays caused by distance, cost or travel barriers. By easing emotional and financial strain, Mounties helps families stay connected to life‑saving treatment and early intervention.
Mounties Group’s partnership with CareFlight provides rapid emergency response through the Mounties Care CareFlight Helicopter, backed by a landmark $10 million, five‑year sponsorship extension. This support ensures one of Australia’s fastest aeromedical helicopters remains operational, reaching trauma scenes within minutes and delivering hospital‑level care on‑site. Funding also supports patient transport aircraft and community education programs that enhance emergency preparedness across NSW.
Through sustained investment and a clear focus on equity, Mounties Group is improving health outcomes before, during and after medical crises — ensuring every family, no matter where they live, has access to timely, life‑saving care.

Parra Leagues

Restoring Sight, Smiles and Dignity Locally

In 2025, Parra partnered with the Mobileyes & Dental Foundation to deliver free, mobile dental and vision clinics to some of Parramatta’s most vulnerable residents. For people experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, addiction, disability or complex visa conditions, essential health care is often inaccessible. This initiative brought professional clinicians directly into the community, delivering trauma‑informed, zero‑cost care to those who would otherwise go without.
The mobile dental van and onsite optometry clinic provided free check-ups, cleanings, treatment, glasses and oral‑health education.
Dental outcomes: 11 clients received care, addressing widespread untreated dental disease.
Vision outcomes: 23 eye tests, including four for non‑Medicare clients, and 19 pairs of glasses dispensed — with several participants arriving legally blind.
Parra fully funded clinical staffing, equipment, sterilisation, consumables and glasses production, ensuring no client faced any financial barrier. When demand exceeded capacity, clinicians voluntarily extended hours to ensure everyone was seen.
For participants, the impact was immediate: restored sight improved mobility and employability; dental care relieved pain; and dignity was renewed.
The success of the clinic has paved the way for future monthly outreach, expanded services and a long‑term vision for equitable health access across Parramatta.

SS&A Albury

SS&A Drives Support for Children in Need

The SS&A Club has strengthened paediatric healthcare across the Albury Wodonga region with a landmark contribution to Albury Wodonga Health’s Paediatrics at the Child’s Home (PATCH) program. In April 2025, the Club funded a $60,000 Subaru Forester, purpose‑built and professionally branded, enabling PATCH nurses to deliver specialised paediatric care directly into family homes. This vehicle is already transforming how care reaches children who are medically stable but still require ongoing clinical support.
Receiving treatment at home reduces fear, stress and disruption — allowing children to remain in familiar surroundings while maintaining the highest standards of care. Since its launch in November 2024, the PATCH program has supported more than 70 children, enabling 170 days of home‑based recovery instead of hospitalisation. The dedicated SS&A vehicle expands the program’s reach and ensures nurses can respond more efficiently across a wide geographic region.
SS&A’s support continues a long history of investment in paediatric services, from theatre equipment to humidicribs and sensory tools. Beyond funding, the Club designed the vehicle’s livery and strengthened community awareness of the program’s impact.
Through this partnership, SS&A is helping ensure children receive safe, high‑quality care where they feel most secure — at home — delivering lasting benefits for families across Albury Wodonga.

Wenty Leagues

Health, Heart & Home ― Ronald McDonald House

Wenty Leagues’ long-standing partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities Greater Western Sydney (RMHC GWS) reflects a deep commitment to supporting families caring for seriously ill or injured children. For families forced to leave home to access specialist treatment, RMHC provides stability, comfort and a “home away from home” — and Wenty Leagues proudly helps make that possible.
Throughout 2025, Wenty Leagues mobilised its staff, members and wider community to deliver meaningful support. The Donate a Gift initiative filled collection boxes with toys, books and sensory items for children spending Christmas away from home, while the annual Toy Raffle raised over $14,000 for RMHC programs. Staff went even further, personally contributing funds to purchase additional gifts.
Beyond seasonal giving, Wenty Leagues provided over $40,000 in ClubGRANTS funding, helping RMHC GWS deliver essential accommodation, meal and family‑support services year‑round. Staff also volunteered through Meals from the Heart, preparing home‑cooked meals for families staying at Ronald McDonald House at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
The Club’s involvement in The Big Spin cycling challenge raised an additional $5,000, contributing to the event’s $595,000 total.
Through financial support, volunteering and community engagement, Wenty Leagues plays a vital role in ensuring families facing medical crises feel supported, connected and never alone.

West Pennant Hills Sports Club

Spinning for Smiles

On Friday 5 September, the West Pennant Hills Sports Club team took on a challenge as inspiring as it was demanding: a 12‑hour spin marathon at Sydney’s Bennelong Lawn for The Big Spin, supporting Ronald McDonald House Charities Greater Western Sydney (RMHC GWS). Among 70 teams, WPH Sports Club showed extraordinary energy and heart, raising $11,800 — enough to fund 73 nights of accommodation and 621 meals for families with seriously ill children receiving treatment at Westmead Hospital.
This effort is part of a long‑standing partnership with RMHC GWS. Every quarter, Club staff volunteer in the Meals from the Heart program, preparing and serving home‑cooked dinners to families staying at Ronald McDonald House. The Club also contributed $10,000 through ClubGRANTS to support the RMHC Day Pass initiative, giving Sydney families a comfortable place to rest during their child’s treatment without the burden of travel.
The Big Spin raised more than $595,000 overall, but for WPH Sports Club, the true achievement was helping keep families close during the hardest moments of their lives. Their effort is a testament to community spirit, compassion — and a lot of pedal power.

Wyong Golf Club

Doing it for Jarrod!

Wyong Golf Club proudly hosted its fourth annual “Doing It For Jarrod” Challenge Cancer Support Network Golf Day, achieving its most successful fundraising effort to date. Held each September, the event honours the legacy of beloved Australian professional golfer Jarrod Lyle, who passed away from leukaemia in 2018. In partnership with Challenge, the PGA of Australia and Golf Australia, the #DoingItForJarrod campaign supports children with cancer and their families through practical, social and emotional care.
In 2025, Wyong Golf Club raised an outstanding $31,500, surpassing its previous record of $23,000 and bringing the Club’s four‑year contribution to over $80,000. With 128 golfers dressed in Jarrod’s signature yellow, the day featured sponsorships, auctions, merchandise sales and novelty fundraising holes — including a lively “party hole” hosted by Top Gun‑themed “celebrities"".
For a small regional club of around 1,000 members, this achievement reflects extraordinary community spirit and generosity. The event has become the Club’s premier annual charity tradition, warmly embraced by members and supporters.
Wyong Golf Club is proud to help continue Jarrod Lyle’s legacy — standing with children and families facing cancer, one yellow‑themed swing at a time.

DOOLEYS Lidcombe Catholic Club

Rolling up Your Sleeves for Equality

At DOOLEYS, community wellbeing is more than a donation — it’s about showing up consistently for the people who need it most. In 2025, the Club's partnership with Australian Red Cross Lifeblood saw staff and community partners make 118 blood and plasma donations, with the potential to help save up to 354 lives. Each donation represented support for someone facing surgery, trauma, cancer treatment or chronic illness — a tangible, life‑changing impact.
A defining moment came on 21 July 2025, when eligibility reforms allowed gay men and trans women to donate plasma for the first time. With many LGBTQ+ staff across our venues, this wasn’t just a policy change — it was personal. To honour the milestone, DOOLEYS organised a group donation featuring staff and community partners including Parramatta Mission, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation and ClubsNSW, demonstrating that inclusion strengthens both public health and community connection.
DOOLEYS will keep leading from the front — advocating, participating and reinforcing that a safer, healthier community is built through consistency, compassion and collective action.

The Coota Ex-Services Club

Helping Local Hospital Palliative Care Unit

Cootamundra Servicemen’s Club has strengthened local healthcare and community wellbeing through a heartfelt contribution to the Cootamundra Hospital Palliative Care Unit. In partnership with ClubGRANTS and the Cootamundra Hospital Auxiliary, the Club proudly donated $10,000 to fund a new specialised palliative care bed — an essential piece of equipment that improves comfort, mobility and dignity for patients in their final stages of life.
For a small community, contributions like this make a profound difference. The palliative care unit now has improved capacity to support individuals with greater comfort and sensitivity, thanks to the generosity and partnership of Cootamundra Servicemen’s Club and its local community.
This donation reflects the Club’s ongoing commitment to supporting essential health services and ensuring that local families can access dignified, compassionate end‑of‑life care close to home.