{"id":512451,"date":"2026-03-01T20:22:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T20:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/512451\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T20:22:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T20:22:32","slug":"illawarra-community-centre-programs-to-continue-using-65000-art-sales-cheque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/512451\/","title":{"rendered":"Illawarra community centre programs to continue using $65,000 art sales cheque"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four years ago, when Jenna Dufty was homeless and living in motels with her eight children, she found refuge at a local community centre.<\/p>\n

Her family were provided breakfast and art classes, and eventually other services to get them back on their feet at the Barnardos-run Bundaleer Community Centre in Warrawong south of Wollongong.<\/p>\n

She has since moved into a home, found full-time work and begun studying in the aged-care sector \u2014 achievements she credits to her time at Bundaleer.<\/p>\n

“It was a long year but [the centre] was there for me through it all,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They’ve been an absolute rock helping me with my kids.”<\/p>\n

The cost-of-living crisis has led to record demand for Bundaleer’s services, with the centre unable to keep up with the rising costs.<\/p>\n

It was hoped a charity art exhibition featuring some of the country’s most celebrated artists could help change that.<\/p>\n

“If this place wasn’t here, a lot of people would go without,” Ms Dufty said.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Jenna Dufty says Bundaleer Community Centre helped her through homelessness and financial hardship.\u00a0 (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)<\/p>\n

‘Minuscule’ budget<\/p>\n

One of Bundaleer’s key programs which distributes food parcels and provides information, advice and referrals saw a five-fold increase from 2024 to 2025.<\/p>\n

“Cash is very tight,” centre manager Melissa Andrews said.<\/p>\n

“We do what we do on a minuscule budget and we do as much as we can with that money.”<\/p>\n

Of the 190 social homes in the Warrawong estate, Ms Andrews said about 135 residents entered Bundaleer’s doors each week seeking all kinds of support.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Melissa Andrews says demand for Bundaleer’s services has never been greater and is tough on a tight budget.\u00a0 (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)<\/p>\n

“We’ve been spending a lot of time in the neighbourhoods finding out what residents need and want,” Ms Andrews said.<\/p>\n

Ms Andrews said competition for funding across the sector was fierce.<\/p>\n

“It’s become really hard to get fundraising dollars \u2026 and we’re chasing more resources because we really want to be able to deliver what the community is asking for.”<\/p>\n

\"Fibro<\/p>\n

Barnardos says the centre was established decades ago for residents living in a social housing estate nearby.\u00a0 (ABC Illawarra: Justin Huntsdale)<\/p>\n

She feared some programs would have to be cut if fresh funding was not readily available.<\/p>\n

“That can really undermine people’s trust in us,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Dufty said thanks to Bundaleer, she had noticed profound changes in her children \u2014 particularly her 11-year-old daughter Amethyst Winkelbauer, whose creative flair has been nurtured as part of its art program.<\/p>\n

“She’s definitely bloomed a lot and her paintings are incredible,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s good to have somewhere for her to go that doesn’t cost me money because a lot of the art classes were asking like $200 plus.”<\/p>\n

Quilty, Done donated artworks<\/p>\n

Winkelbauer’s artworks have featured alongside famous Australian artists Ben Quilty and Ken Done over the weekend as part of Bundaleer’s charity art exhibition at Sydney’s Botanic Garden.<\/p>\n

Each artwork shared a message on the importance of a stable home.<\/p>\n

\"Art<\/p>\n

The final fundraising figure could climb, as some exhibited pieces are yet to find a new home.\u00a0 (ABC News: Jak Rowland)<\/p>\n

Ms Andrews said the $65,000 raised would help keep Bundaleer’s services running and boost staff numbers.<\/p>\n

“It’ll keep us afloat and plug some gaps while year-to-year funding continues,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s incredibly special and quite overwhelming to see how generous the artists were for a community they don’t know.”<\/p>\n

Winkelbauer joined her mother and some of her peers on a trip to the exhibition during its final weekend.<\/p>\n

“Seeing [Amethyst’s] artwork there was just incredible. I’m so proud of her,” Ms Dufty said.<\/p>\n

“She wouldn’t have had that opportunity without Bundaleer.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four years ago, when Jenna Dufty was homeless and living in motels with her eight children, she found…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,256561,256563,256562,7694,256564,44,87281,145229],"class_list":{"0":"post-512451","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-barnardos","11":"tag-ben-quilty","12":"tag-bundaleer-community-centre","13":"tag-homelessness","14":"tag-ken-done","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-support-service","17":"tag-warrawong"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}