Volunteer

We want to hear from you. Become part of our tribe, invigorate your own community, feel all warm-and-fuzzy inside.

• If you love to 4WD and would like to help giving more kids a break, sign up as a volunteer four-wheel driver!

• Maybe you’re a nurse, social worker, youth worker or mental health worker - come along on one of our trips - we can do with your support!

Donate

Giz A Break is a registered charity with Deductible Gift Registration (DGR) status. This means that if you or your company donate funds, you can deduct this from your taxable income. To view our ABN, charity, and tax status details: https://abr.business.gov.au/ABN/View?abn=16635277637. Any dollar you give us will help us give people a break when they need it most. We will provide you with a tax invoice to help you claim your donation at tax time.

We’re currently saving for three things:

• A 4-day adventure initiative to give people affected by the bushfires in southern NSW and Victoria a break. We can deliver with a minimum of 6 participants.

• A second four wheel drive - A used GU Patrol, 80 or 100 series Landcruiser, or Prado with ca. 250,000km on the clock. Either of those cost around $15-20,000.

• Equipment: A bull bar and winch for our 120 series Prado - costs about $3,000; a satellite phone (we’ve been hiring these so far)

A little more context:

It costs us pretty much bang-on $12,600 to take 9 participants out for a 4 day high country adventure. We know this sounds a lot - but let us reassure you that we’re not even paying ourselves for most of the time we put in. The cost includes food, drinks, camping equipment (all provided except clothes and pillow), salaries (not for admin, etc.), insurance, technical equipment, and maintenance of vehicles, trailers, and all other equipment - from fire extinguishers, solar panels and batteries to satellite phones. It also includes the casual salary for our social worker with mental health training. It also includes engagement with families, communities and of course participants many weeks before and many weeks after the initiative. Only through this more extensive and deeper engagement can we achieve the impact we’re aiming for. And that is what separates us from conventional outdoor adventure companies as well as the mental health service system.

To put this into annual cost, value for money, and sustainability terms:

• One trip with 9 participants translates to 864 hours of a unique experiences at the cost of $15 per hour. And this doesn’t even include pre- and post-engagement with both parents / carers and participants - and there’s plenty of that.

That is about a tenth of the price of a mental health consult. We emphasise that we’re not clinicians. We work preventively. So, double the bang-for-buck.