'Shero' champions Share the Dignity volunteer and donations drive
Share the Dignity Shero Susan Ballard of Wingham says every bag dropped at Bunnings Taree and Bunnings Forster during the ‘It’s In The Bag’ campaign will go to a local girl or woman. Photo | Ainslee Dennis
Susan Ballard is a feminist. It is an aspect of her identity that she has nurtured over a lifetime and it informs her choice to serve vulnerable girls and women navigating period poverty, domestic violence and homelessness.
She is a Shero - a Share the Dignity volunteer who has been working in the Manning and Great Lakes communities on the Mid North Coast of NSW for the last seven years. It is her intimate knowledge of the needs of women in these communities that keeps her putting on the vibrant pink Shero shirt for every Share the Dignity campaign.
This month she is gearing up for the annual ‘It’s In The Bag’ campaign which runs from November 15 to December 1, and to keep Share the Dignity thriving in our community, she is also looking to boost Shero numbers.
Retirement from a teaching career in 2017 saw Susan look within her community for a volunteering role.
“I’ve always really proudly said that I am a feminist”
“I needed something to do and I've always really proudly said that I am a feminist. I've worked with girls and women in schools and I thought Share the Dignity may find it difficult to get volunteers as its focus at that time was sanitary items and period poverty,” Susan said.
The choice to align volunteering to her values has kept Susan connected to Share the Dignity and compelled her to remain an active volunteer, even as thoughts of retiring the Shero shirt have crossed her mind.
“I keep doing it because if I left it would leave our region in the lurch.”
Susan Ballard visited Woolworths Taree during the August Dignity Drive to collect donated sanitary items from the donation bin outside of Woolworths Taree. Photo | Ainslee Dennis
She says the reward for effort is “that you feel good about helping people.”
“It’s also good to get out into the community to see what is really happening on the ground because I don’t believe a lot of people understand just how poor our area is.”
She sees the upcoming It’s In The Bag campaign as an opportunity to help local women and importantly, the organisation behind it.
“... all the donated bags are given to girls and women in our area”
“Share the Dignity makes a difference in our community as all the donated bags are given to girls and women in our area,” she explained.
Susan says the Women’s Refuge and Manning Valley Neighbourhood Services are two of many organisations that receive the bags, and explains the process for other charities to secure support simply involves completion of Share the Dignity online registration on its website.
The campaign is an annual event that rallies people to create and donate one of three bag types - an adult, teen or mum and bub bag. Each It's In The Bag has a different list of essentials that you can find below.
Susan recognises that some people may want to support the campaign but find the cost prohibitive. She welcomes donations of individual items on the lists and asks that they be taken to Manning Valley Neighbourhood Services in the Old Courthouse Building, 4 Farquhar Street, Wingham.
“Let the staff know it’s for Share the Dignity and I can use the items to create or top up bags, “ Susan said.
Susan hopes her appeal to boost Shero ranks will pique the interest of women of all ages and backgrounds. She says Share the Dignity runs three campaigns a year - March, August and November - and explains that you can help with one or more of the Dignity Drives or the It’s In The Bag campaign. You don’t have to be involved in all three. To become a volunteer complete the Become A Volunteer process on the Share the Dignity website.
Photo | Share the Dignity
