Families in need will be able to transport their children safely after a generous $4000 donation to Eureka Mums which will be put toward buying car seats for babies and children.
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Each year Eureka Mums distributes around 200 car seats to families in need but tight regulations around second hand car seats and new rules keeping children in seats until they are older mean the vital items are often in short supply.
So the charity is forced to buy new stock to be able to distribute to families through their case workers.
The Sturt-Buninyong United Lodge, through a combination of donations from the Freemasons Foundation and the No. 23 Masonic Social Committee, asked Eureka Mums what they needed funding for and car seats were the answer.
The No. 23 Masonic Social Committee raised the funds through their annual fruit sale, which has been running since 1999 and raised more than $60,000 in that time.
Lodge members buy fruit in bulk from the grower in Shepparton then package it for sale to the public.
The fruit is transported to Ballarat in a truck provided by Hewitt and Whitty, who allow the committee to conduct the fruit sale from their Delacombe store.
Eureka Mums operations manager Trinsa Lewis said car seats were one of the most expensive but most essential parts of bringing a baby home.
"Being able to purchase a car seat is really important and it's one of the biggest items we hand out," she said.
Last financial year there were 213 car seats given to families from Eureka Mums. Some of the challenges facing those families included arriving at hospital without knowing they were pregnant, women and children fleeing domestic violence, and families whose car had been stolen and/or burnt with their child safety restraints inside.
Ms Lewis said car seats had a 10 year lifespan so the group could only rehome donated car seats that were less than eight years old and where they could be sure the seat had never been involved in an accident.
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"We need to make sure the car seat has not been in an accident so we can only accept car seats we know the full history from, where the family who have donated it can tell us," she said.
"The thing is now that children are supposed to stay in a car restraint until they are 140cm tall, because it's no longer based on age but on height, people are holding on to the car seats longer so we don't get as many."
And because some car seats, with their different supplied inserts and padding, can hold a child from six months to eight years or 140cm families are not turning them over as their child grows.
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