Menzies Caring For Kids has been doing exactly that for 151 years; now more than ever it needs help to continue its admirable legacy.
The not-for-profit organisation grew out of the Ragged School Mission, founded in Melbourne in 1865 to provide residential care for children. In the early 1900s, the Mission moved to Frankston and became known as the Minton Boys’ Home before a name-change to The Menzies Home for Boys in honour of long-serving committee of management president James Menzies (the father of former prime minister Sir Robert Menzies).
Until the 1960s, Menzies was known for its ‘Home on the Hill’ – a large property on Olivers Hill that housed all the boys. As research on children’s care developed, large group housing was no longer seen as best practice; the Home on the Hill was sold in 1965 and a series of family group homes was established in Frankston and throughout the Peninsula.
Menzies Caring for Kids is now a solely philanthropic organisation financing several significant projects that align with the Menzies vision to help young people in, at risk of being in or transitioning from out-of-home care in the region.
President Kevin Johnson, who lived in the Menzies Home for eight years from 1956 with his older brother, is justifiably proud of the organisation’s many funded projects. These include Allied Health, a partnership with Peninsula Health and three Frankston North schools to which it has committed an extra $400,000 to expand the program into Hastings and Rosebud. Menzies funds a pediatrician, a pediatrician fellow (GP in training) and an occupational therapist to provide allied support and services to the schools involved. There are plans to include still more schools as well as early childhood centres.
Menzies has also committed to support a mentoring program with TRY Australia to facilitate connections between disadvantaged youths and positive adult role models. It’s expected to start this month.
Visit menzies.org.au for a list of all the projects Menzies is involved in (click on “Who We Help”), to make a donation or to find other ways of supporting Menzies Caring For Kids.