How one family chose to commemorate the life of their beautiful 16-year-old.

Alice Sloan by Sue Sloan, Alice's aunt

Alice Victoria Sloan was born on the first day of winter 1989. On the last day of winter 2005, she lost her life at the beautiful and exciting age of 16. Alice was on a greatly anticipated school outdoor education trip with much loved friends when a tree fell on the tent that she was sharing and her life was taken instantly. Inspired by the way Alice lived her life with love, passion and enthusiasm, Alice's family established a sub-fund in her name under the guidance, support and direction of MCF. This fund was established in December 2005. The aim is to provide young people from all walks of life with opportunities similar to those Alice passionately pursued, and so assist their development during formative years.

What is EastWeb?
EastWeb is a sub-fund of the Melbourne Community Foundation. We are a group of committed young people who believe that by encouraging community capacity and self-determination through developing community driven, grassroots projects, we can all help to overcome disadvantage.

We work with the Indigenous, Asylum Seeker and Refugee communities in Victoria, whose experiences of marginalisation and discrimination affect their ability to fully participate in the community.

Field of Interest:           Education, Training and Employment
Grant Recipient:           Swinburne University
Project:                        June Shenfield Poetry Award
MCF Sub-fund:             June Shenfield Poetry Award Fund

The June Shenfield award celebrates the life and work of June Shenfield – a poet, playwright and performance artist, who lived and worked in Paris, but was educated in Melbourne and was a graduate of Swinburne University.

June died in 2004 and her mother established the Award, as a lasting tribute to her daughter and her work.

Swinburne University manages the Award which is made annually for the best poetry by a Swinburne student, judged by a panel of professional writers and editors.

This year’s winner was David Prater, for his poem "Space Kus" and the Certificate of Commendation awarded to Katherine Stuart, for her poem "To my sisters"

For further information about the Award go to www.swin.edu.au

• Read a report about Australian Federation of University Women - Victoria Scholarships in PDF format.

In the past year the Melbourne Community Foundation-Social Justice Fund has made grants to developing countries that provide safe drinking water and improved sanitation and health in Ethiopia, India, Malawi, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Uganda. 

Grants have also been provided to women and girls, and the poorest of the poor, with education and income-earning opportunities in Bangladesh, India, Laos, Malawi, Nepal, the Philippines, South Africa, a refugee camp in Thailand, East Timor, Uganda and Vietnam. 

Within Australia grants have benefited indigenous infants, children and youth, public school students, refugee women and youth with mental health issues.  There have also been grants supporting a new progressive think tank, (Per Capita), the campaign by Australians for Affordable Housing, and research by ACOSS into poverty in Australia.

Some information about the Projects of the Social Justice Fund

• Social Justice Grants 2007 - 2008(PDF)
• Background Information (PDF)
• Ethiopia Visit 2005 Water is Life (PDF)
• Ethiopia Visit 2005 Tale of 3 Villages (PDF)

Shortly after the establishment of the Rod and Pamela Wells Community Fund in September 2002, over a twelve day period, Pamela Wells lost her husband, her father died and her finances suffered a severe setback. She is sure she survived this due to the very loving, stable and fortunate life she enjoyed as a child, the wise advice and high principles with which her parents had guided her family, and her belief that anything can be survived if you have faith in your own abilities and strengths. After these events, Pamela was even more committed to their charitable fund in order to ensure that something positive would result from this gloomy period in her life. 

In establishing the fund, Pamela and Rod determined that the money they could put into a charitable fund needed to be safe from manipulation, and so chose the Melbourne Community Foundation. They also thought it would be satisfying to establish the fund during their lifetime so that they could see the results their donations achieved, rather than leaving a bequest.

At the outset, their aims were fairly straightforward - they wanted to give to those people or organisations that need financial support, with a focus on children, particularly those from the Goulburn region of Victoria, who didn't have a stable family life.

They also wanted to set up something that, since they had no children, they would be remembered by.  However, when they thought about this more deeply, the reasons were a little more complex. Pamela recognized that both she and her husband had lived privileged lives, being encouraged by their parents to remain at school, pursue tertiary education and become actively involved in satisfying careers. They were clear they wanted to see others benefit as a result of their good fortune.

Since its establishment Melbourne Community Foundation has distributed a number of grants from the Rod & Pam Wells Community Fund.  These include the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the Kyabrum Shelter (RSPCA), the Goulburn Valley Community Fund, which will use the money for children and families in the City of Greater Shepparton. 

 "to create opportunities for young people to reach their potential, where such potential is hampered due to disadvantage or inequality"

The Anna Wearne Fund joined Melbourne Community Foundation in 1997 in memory of 23-year-old Anna Wearne who tragically died in a car accident.  A small group of Anna's close friends and family joined together to encapsulate Anna's spirit into the aims and objectives that would shape this fund.

Fundraising began at Anna's funeral with people donating around $200 to support our aim, but it was mutual efforts from a committed advisory committee that raised sufficient funds to enable Anna's friends to request MCF to make distributions to the projects they sought to support.

It was never envisaged that the fund would ever financially compete with the larger charities and foundations, nor does it wish to. The Anna Wearne Fund fills a unique niche in the community. However, in spite of not having a great deal of money, in the seven years of its existence, MCF through the Anna Wearne Fund has distributed almost 40 different grants to a variety of charitable organizations. These include awards to Swinburne University to support the efforts of young people who have dropped out of mainstream education but return to gain a year 10 certificate, ongoing support to young children of the Carlton Housing Commission flats to provide after school and holiday activities and funding to provide music tuition for Tolly, an 11-year-old Indigenous guitarist from Deniliquin. Without support from MCF, Tolly would not have been able to continue his lessons. Learning and playing music helps give him confidence, raise his self- esteem and help with his literacy skills.

As a friend and advisory committee member said; "Our dear friend Anna gave us the inspiration to start this fund. We are often surprised at the diversity and number of requests for funding received. Unfortunately we cannot fund them all however, our small contributions continue to make a big difference for young people".