Walking into the old Savaco timber factory on Broadford’s Mollison Street, times have certainly changed since it was filled with wooden reels used for long wires and cables for Telstra in the 1970s.
These days, it’s brimming with donated equipment, toys, books and medical supplies ready to be shipped worldwide to those less fortunate by the SHARE Project.
Run by the Rotary e-Club of Change Makers, SHARE stands for Serving Humanity And Re-Purposing Equipment, and acts as a midway point for some of Victoria’s excess medical products and other items bound for landfill that are then redistributed to those in need.
Jenny Foster, the onsite contact at the warehouse and the chairperson for the SHARE Project, opened the Broadford warehouse back in October 2024 after realising the need for more room to store and distribute things beyond the established rotary warehouse in West Footscray.
She says what makes it different is that the project brings members from all over the state together in Broadford to be part of something bigger than themselves.
“We do it on our computer. Whereas the local club here, which is Southern Mitchell … they meet in person.
“You can only have your members in this area, that’s just the rules (of Rotary). Whereas in e-club, we can have anyone.”
“We have people like Tony and the others, they’re just local people coming in to help. And I love that because having your volunteers and … knowing that our excess is helping other children in the world is also part of it.”
In the past week, their focus has been squarely on their upcoming shipment to Cambodia which will see a full shipping container of medical equipment, healthcare products and kids’ toys make its way to the inland city of Siem Reap.
The item of choice when the Review visited last Tuesday was wheelchairs, when sixty rough terrain chairs donated by Wheelchairs for Kids Australia in Perth were packed into the Cambodia-bound container.
Jenny said that she received a phone call from Wheelchairs for Kids years ago to seek her help in getting their chairs into Cambodia, and through that process she found Safe Haven Cambodia.
“Someone told me it would be a really, really good program that would absolutely make sure that the wheelchairs were fitted correctly to the kids, not just shoving a kid in a wheelchair and hoping for the best,” she said.
The wheelchairs being sent are specialised to provide mobility for children living with disabilities in less developed countries, and are among very few worldwide that comply with strict World Health Organisation guidelines.
There to oversee the process was Kate Arkwright from Safe Haven Cambodia, the non-government organisation (NGO) who will receive the shipment of supplies once it reaches Southeast Asia.
As the Development Director at Safe Haven, Kate has spent the past two years helping to support Cambodian children living with disabilities and their families, as well as educating members of the local communities.
“(Disability) has got a very big stigma about it. Many people still believe that a disability is because of bad karma,” she said.
“Or they think it’s bad spirits in you. Like epilepsy. They’ll think it’s a bad spirit inside you and things like that.”
The wheelchairs will end up all across Cambodia, assisting children with movement-inhibiting disabilities such as cerebral palsy and spinal muscular atrophy.
The past week has been largely focused on the Cambodia shipping container, but Jenny said that there are also containers set for Uganda and Papua New Guinea on site.
Providing mainly medical equipment, the PNG container will also include some of the old Kilmore International School uniform.
“The PNG team that were here yesterday, one of those girls has only just moved here two weeks ago. I was showing her the navy blue pants, and she said ‘oh, they’re so needed in Papua New Guinea,” Jenny said.
As part of the SHARE Project, Jenny and a group of other members will be heading off to Cambodia later this year.
Although they’ll be busy helping fellow Rotary e-Club member Darrel Steer with his Cambodia Clean Water and Toilet Project, Jenny said that it gives her a chance to gain perspective on the needs of the people they are shipping these items to.
“I’m always one that really likes to visit the project,” she said.
“To me, it’s really important to go and listen to the people in the community, and understand what their needs are and then come back here and go ‘okay well, what part of that can we help?’ We can’t do everything, but there must be something.”
The SHARE Project also supports a number of local organisations, including Love In Action, the Helping Hands Mission and the Caroline Chisholm Society.
If you’re looking to get involved in the SHARE Project, you can get in touch with them by emailing rotaryshareproject@gmail.com
You can read the full story online by visiting the North Central Review website.
