A group of three volunteers who stepped up this week may be able to keep the Elves Club charity afloat, according to outgoing president Lynn Nestman.
Nestman said three new people came to the Aug. 20 Elves Club AGM, which was the date she had previously announced for the charity to fold if no one came forward.
Those three people expressed a desire to take on the role of the executive committee; however, they still need to get their record checks in place and find a fourth team member to act as a secretary for the group.
“At this point it’s still a little up in the air,” Nestman said, noting she didn’t want to release the volunteers’ names yet.
“I told them that I’d give them 10 days.”
She’s hopeful the new volunteers will pan out but said there’s no way the Elves Club can pull off the hamper effort this year, even if a new executive committee is set up soon, as there’s too much money that still needs to be raised.
“I know for a fact they will not be able to pull off the hamper program, but what we’re looking at right now with the money that we have is a voucher program, where possibly they’ll put out applications and have people come to us,” Nestman said.
“It will not be a lot of money. It could be as little as $30 or even $25 but we will be able to buy them a turkey. I figure that’s better than nothing.”
Nestman said that by foregoing the hamper program this year, the Elves Club would be able to save about $20,000 of the $27,000 it currently has in the bank and apply for another $20,000 grant next year, giving the charity a strong $40,000 starting position for the 2017 year.
Last year the hamper program cost about $100,000 and benefited 660 families on the Sunshine Coast.
Nestman said there’s one last option available to keep the Elves Club alive if the new volunteers don’t pan out.
“We can put a suspension on the charity so it doesn’t fold,” Nestman said.
“We have to give a certain amount of our money – I think it’s 3.5 per cent – to a charity like the food bank, which would be feeding everybody, and then it just sits dormant until next year but still allows us to apply for grants.”
That would buy some time, but ultimately a new executive committee would still need to take the reins in 2017.
Nestman said she’s hopeful the Elves Club will continue under new leadership because she knows how much the hampers are needed.
