Kay Bratt, who organised the fundraiser, presented a $5.5k cheque last week to Amaranth CEO Julianne Whyte, along with Maree McFarlane who is the coordinator of the Community Care Fund at the foundation.
“This money means that when people are down on their luck, when people can no longer cope or when we know we can provide something that will help people, we can now do it,” Ms McFarlane said.
“It’s available to anybody that is vulnerable and not limited to financial or mental health vulnerability, it can be anything.
“I think it’s important for the community to know that they’re supported and if they feel that support people during hardships.”
Over 100 people showed out to the high tea which entertained guests with home cooked treats, tea, champagne, raffles and guest speakers.
Ms Whyte said she was blown away by the philanthropy the community showed and was exceedingly grateful to Kay and Stuart Bratt, as well as Karen Jones for putting on an incredible event.
“The immense generosity really struck me,” she said.
“It takes a tribe of people to put on something great like this and we (Amaranth) don’t have the capacity to do those big events.
“Events like this are vital for the fund because it ensures that we’re able to continue to help those that are in desperate need of help in our community.”
After having great success in its inaugural year, Ms Bratt is hopeful they can continue to build on the high tea event next year.
“We were amazed that we were able to hand over that sort of money in just our first year,” she said.
“It was the locals that made this such a successful event. The community was just so generous and hopefully we can do even better next year.”
