Welcome to Santa Cause!!

Santa Cause is a not-for-profit initiative established to help children and families in need at Christmas time.  It enables everyday people (like you!) to give Christmas presents to the children of their local community.

Santa Cause provides an excellent opportunity for people to make a difference and have fun with family and friends at the same time!

It's time to host your own Santa Cause Party for 2007 and make a difference to families in your local area.  Click on the 'get involved' section of this website to find out how to host your own Santa Cause Party and register!  It's really easy and heaps of fun!

UPCOMING EVENTS

ANNUAL SANTA CAUSE FOUNDERS PARTY

Sloaney Pony
1Crockford Street, Port Melbourne
Friday 7th December
Cost: $20.00
Includes: Nibblies, Dj, happy hour and free cocktail on arrival
Make a difference: By bringing an unwrapped present for a child with you ( minimum $5.00 spend)
Note: You will be out of place if you don't come dressed as christmas.  Be cheeky, have fun!!

To get your tickets email us at info@santacause.com.au or call Megan 0418 524 802 or Lisa 0408 210 279

PAST EVENTS & OTHER INTERESTING SANTA CAUSE STUFF!

SANTA CAUSE LAUNCH PARTY 2006

 

Presents from Santa Cause Launch Party Oct 06

......A really big thank-you to you all that attended the Santa Cause Launch Party at the Town Hall Hotel on September 9th 2006.

Over 250 people attended and danced the night away to 80's music...but the real success of the night was that over 400 presents were collected and have since been distributed to the Salvation Army and the Victorian Prision Fellowship.  Visit the photo gallery section on the website to see the pictures of the presents....it was such an amazing feeling to go down on Monday morning and see all the presents and get a sense of what a difference just one night of 'Santa Cause' makes.   Thank-you again for coming...and remember without you Santa Cause doesn't exist so make sure you register on this website to have your own Santa Cause party ( big or small) this December!

THANK-YOU LETTERS FROM THE SALVATION ARMY AND PRISION FELLOWSHIP VICTORIA

Can you imagine what it would be like for a child to have to go to prison to meet their Mum of Dad? Across Australia, at any one time, around 35,000 children (most under the age of 12) go through this trauma. It is not easy for the children, or their mothers, fathers of carers, as they often experience hours of travel on public transport just to get to the prison and then, after the visit, experience the same problems on their return home.

But something is happening to make a difference. In four prisons in Victoria, Christmas parties are provided by the prison management and children of prisoners attend the party and enjoy some Christmas fun with their fathers. As prisoners cannot afford presents for their kids, a charity, Prison Fellowship, provides the presents. In turn these presents are donated to Prison Fellowship.

And Santa Cause has donated presents to Prison Fellowship this year. Around 60 children will receive a gift because of Santa Cause and I am most grateful for their support. Thank you to everyone involved with Santa Cause because your generosity will touch a child’s heart.

Sincerely

Richard Whaley

Executive Director

Prision Fellowship Victoria

The Salvation Army Victoria wrote:

Dear Lisa and team members of the non-for-profit initiative called Santa Cause,

Just a quick note to express my sincere appreciation on behalf of The Salvation Army for last Saturday evening and for the 200 presents that were donated as a result of this night.   It was great to meet you and your parents, also the many young people that attended your event called 'Santa Cause'.

You are to be congratulated on such an idea and I do hope that it will grow in time as the message gets around, your personal commitment to supporting Australians who are marginalised within our society is to be commended, be proud of your achievements and know when you celebrate this Christmas there will be many children who will received gifts on the day due to your care.

On behalf of all workers within the Salvos network who will be assisting many families in crisis over the Christmas, they would have me say 'THANK YOU FOR CARING'

I do hope that we meet again some day.

Thanks

Blessings

wayne

Wayne D. Pittaway (Major)
TERRITORIAL PUBLIC RELATIONS SECRETARY
Australia Southern Territory
The Salvation Army
Public Relations Department
Level 2
26-28 Prospect Street
BOX HILL  VIC  3128
DIRECT LINE OFFICE 03 9895 6201
MOBILE  0419 103 352


The Salvation Army providing assistance to 1,500,000 Australian's in crisis, that is 1 every 20 seconds of the day    -   THANK GOD FOR THE SALVOS

                                 CALL:  13 SALVOS or www.salvationarmy.org.au/donations to donate

SANTA CAUSE LAUNCH PARTY ( OCTOBER 2006)…………AN ELF’S TALE…………..

"Come on, we are all ready to go, now get those tights on…"

I looked down at red and white-stripped nylon and heaved a sigh of acceptance, safe in the knowledge that the buffer of wild turkey would soon take charge and everything would be fine.

Tonight was going to be the launch party for Santa Cause, a children’s charity set up/meticulously planned/hashed together (I think like most opening nights it was a mix of all three) by Lisa Wright. Over the last three months it had gone from an interesting thought to a snowballing monster hurtling towards Saturday night.

And getting back to Saturday night…………..

………………As Elf suits go it was more of a Christmas pirate (this would be painfully highlighted later on in the night as my elf suit would be put to shame) but I donned it anyway and became Santa’s elf for the night. Now I am a good-hearted person but have never been the type to get hands on involved with charitable activity. I would squirm every time anyone would ask me to help out in anyway, not to say that I didn’t want to, don’t get me wrong. It had always been someone else’s job, that’s all. I was content with my donations through direct debit, a monthly act of good will that took no effort at all.

So all the preparations had been a new experience for me – making an effort to do something for someone I didn’t even know…impossible…never been done. As far as I could see though it was too late but I still wasn’t convinced all this charitable action would be good for my health.

It was now about six thirty. Mama Christmas and an entourage of Christmas vixens climbed aboard their sleigh and set course for the Town Hall – our Grotto for the night.

If you happened to be in the vicinity of Melbourne CBD that night you may have seen an Elf and a Blond Christmas present driving through the streets and you would have been well within your rights to double take.seeing as it was only the beginning of September. However Elf and Present carried on regardless, collecting the Christmas bouncers June and Max along the way. Arriving at the town hall to a rather disjointed scene, last minute preparations and arguments were in full flow and Elf was beginning to perspire. So he headed for the bar to begin the process of numbing self-awareness, still lacking a certain amount of belief in what was going on around him.

As the next few hours passed by the dust began to settle and beyond it, hoards of santas, Christmas trees, reign deer or at least antlers began to arrive and with everyone of them along came a present for a child. The real purpose and spirit of the night were starting to become apparent to the Elf. More and more inspired people began to arrive each bearing gifts. The songs played the drinks flowed and the belief in Elf began to grow. The belief that one person could start something that would inspire everyone around them to let go of their everyday gripes and pressures and make a difference to the under privileged at Christmas. What surprised the Elf even more was that there was no signs of material thanks insight but what he could not deny was that the rewards were evident to see in everyone who was there. There is a unique atmosphere that is generated on nights where all are there for a selfless higher purpose. It frees people’s goodwill and this was in abundance on Saturday night. The mountain of presents was sprawling out of control and as the token speeches were by the night’s heroines and heroes, Elf sat back and realized that an amazing thing had happened.

Santa Cause had done its job, with a little bit of time an effort it had done something extraordinary. Everyday people were making a difference and all under the banner of a good time. The attitude Elf carried with him into tonight’s proceedings was in stark contrast to the one he left with, no longer would he be content with an anonymous donation every month not when he had seen what a momentous thing stepping outside of your comfort zone for the good of someone else could be. It is all too easy to sit there and believe you are doing all you can, but believe me, the Elf when I say by making a minimal effort beyond what you think you can achieve, you and what you do can become something amazing......