Share Love

After the success of last year’s Love Month campaign, this February we reintroduced ‘Celebrate Love’ at Sunshine Plaza. One of the three key elements of this campaign was the Share Love Voting Station, for customers to vote for one of five local non-for-profit organisations using their Share Love token.

This year we increased the number of community partners from 3 to 5 groups to help raise awareness of the incredible work they do.

The winning groups received a share in $15,000:

1st place - $5,000 | Wildlife SEQ Inc.

Formed in 2019, Wildlife SEQ Inc. provides rehabilitation and release services to the native wildlife within the South East Region of Queensland. Wildlife SEQ Inc. is a Not-for-Profit registered incorporated charity that’s dedicated to the welfare of our native fauna. Run solely by volunteers, the team is dedicated to ensuring all native wildlife have the chance to live a full and successful life out in the wild.

2nd place - $4,000 | Smart Pups

Smart Pups is a local charity, founded by an experienced dog trainer in 2011 and has since become Australia’s leading provider of assistance dogs. The Smart Pups are highly trained to assist children and people with multipurpose assistance, autism and seizure assistance. Smart Pups has successfully placed dogs with more than 150 families across Australia, and continues to support them with ongoing training and check-ins.

3rd place - $3,000 | headspace Maroochydore

headspace Maroochydore is a welcoming, safe space for young people aged 12 to 25 years. They provide free access, support, and information for a broad range of concerns, including mental health, physical/sexual health, drug and alcohol concerns, employment & education, and support for families and carers.

The headspace team, along with the young people in their Youth Engagement Committee, are dedicated to supporting our community and the young people within it. Strong community connection is empowering and supports the mental wellbeing of our youth.

4th place - $2,000 | Katie Rose Cottage Hospice

Katie Rose Cottage Hospice provides best-in class end of life care in a ‘cottage style’ hospice environment, overseen by a qualified Clinical Nurse Coordinator and 24/7 care provided by specialist registered nurses, assistant nurses and volunteers. Unlike other Australian hospices, which are majority funded either by government or other institutions, Katie Rose Cottage Hospice has always been majority funded by our community and this makes them unique. Hospice care is offered at no cost to guests, at a time when families and individuals need this vital end of life support – they are not a business nor a social enterprise and are dependent on generous donations from our local community members and businesses.

5th - $1,000 | endED

endED is a lived experience led charity, established in 2015 in response to community need to improve mental health and wellbeing for people affected by Eating Disorders/Eating Issues and those in their world [families, siblings, partner, friends etc]. The Sunshine Coast has the highest Eating Disorder rates nationally, with conservative estimates at 21,000, plus 56,700 family members directly impacted. endED's mission is to create hope for recovery for anyone affected by eating issues or EDs in Australia through compassionate, lived experience support and community connection.

For more information on how to participate, click here.