December 2024 10th Anniversary Celebration
The Nest Community Inc was founded on 15 December 2014 with just 12 founding members ranging in age from 12 to 80. On the same day in 2024, we gathered to celebrate for many reasons. Primarily, that we’d reached a 10 year milestone, but also that we’d had a mammoth first full year in Brendale where we’d processed two thirds or 409,514 litres of our total donations to date.
Oh what a year and oh what a night!
Many of our 120 dedicated volunteers gathered to create some festive cheer with our staff, loyal supporters, including our Gold Patron Tim Mander MP and Michelle, one of our founding members. With a slideshow of memories on the big screen, there was a lot of chatter, reminiscing and pride in the room.
As a charity, our Christmas celebrations are usually low-key affairs but this year we lashed out with delicious paella. Of course the giving nature of our community shone through with husband’s of volunteers stepping in to run the bar and Sarah Eaton (a daughter-in-law of one of the volunteers) baked our incredible anniversary cake.
In fact, there were a lot of husbands of volunteers there. Perhaps a sign of the importance of The Nest in their partner’s lives – or was it the paella?
CEO Update | Speech by The Nest Communit Founder and CEO, Roz Holt
We’ve achieved a great deal in 10 years, but building The Nest wasn’t easy.
Since 2014, we’ve self-funded $1.4 million to cover overheads, and acquired $360,000 in grants and donations for programs and facilities. This was achieved through relentless dedication, resourcefulness, and volunteer commitment.
In Textile Recovery alone, volunteers have contributed a quarter of a million volunteer hours in addition to countless undocumented hours where volunteers and team members worked behind the scenes writing grants, organising rosters, cleaning or finding solutions to various challenges.
The unseen acts of service—mopping up flood water, processing donations at home, writing policies, and managing operations—have been the backbone of our success. This passion and unconditional giving is what has driven us forward.
The major hurdle that hampered our progress over 10 years was that we were a work-in-progress. We didn’t have a template and we were creating something completely new. At first, people donated all kinds of items, including furniture and food scraps! Volunteers spent many hours sorting and disposing of unsuitable donations.
Fortunately, we’ve now come of age and in a recent customer survey, we had resounding feedback that people understood our mission and vision and could see how our programs demonstrate the value of what we do.
What programs The Nest delivers
Today our social enterprise, The Nest Haberdashery supports six programs:
- The Textile Recovery Centre
- The Heritage Collection
- Our Craft Stalls
- Learn 2 that offers low-cost craft classes.
- Our mentoring program, The Exchange Project – also supported by Zonta, Tim Mander MP and funds from our Craft Stalls.
- Finally, our new invigoration program, Stitch Together, provides free resources and bursaries for the broader community, funded by a $50,000 grant from Community Bank Samford.
10 years ago, when I had the idea to start selling excess textile donations we’d received for workshops, I never imagined that the idea would become more than just a financial solution for our organisation.
The Nest Haberdashery quickly became The Nest’s heart and soul because it brought people together to share their love of making.
Over the last 10 years our growth has always been organic, driven by public demand rather than ambition for growth itself. Uprooting us from our ‘home’ in Everton Park to move to a commercial facility in Brendale in Sept 2023 was not a decision to grow the organisation, but rather to save it.
Relocating to Brendale
The move! Can we just talk about what a gargantuan feat of logistics. Not only did our volunteers pull together to make magic happen over many months and weeks, but it felt like the whole Moreton Bay community helped us.
Lions Club Bunya often did odd jobs for us in Everton Park but the boys jumped in and helped move some of our trickier furniture pieces like our blackboards.
Shift Buddies moved what we thought would be two-three truck loads of stock – turned out to be nearly five. Ministry of Handmade helped us to create customisable displays to cope with the variety of fabric rolls and donations we receive. And once again, volunteers’ husbands were also invaluable, giving us a hand where needed.
The Honorable Peter Dutton, Honorable Tim Mander, Cr Cath Tonks, and Cr Matthew Constance also made funding for displays and relocation available.
What we’ve achieved in little over a year in Brendale is nothing short of incredible. Public demand has made it a success and today The Nest Haberdashery welcomes over 500 people per week.
We are now a responsible and compliant organisation, thanks to the guidance of the Nest Board. This enables us to uphold our vision for a resilient community where people and resources are equally valued.
In a recent audit with Volunteering Queensland our Volunteer Program was highly commended. The volunteer space is moving toward accreditation and others are referencing our work as best practice. Never underestimate what women who craft can do!
The Nest’s 10 year social impact
In 10 years our volunteers have contributed 29 years of their time to reclaim 167km worth of textiles alone – that’s the same distance as Brisbane to Gold Coast. Since relocating to Brendale in September 2023 demand for our services has dramatically increased. In 2024 we processed two thirds or 409,514 litres of our total donations to date.
What does the future hold for The Nest?
So, what do I hope for the organisation in the next 10 years?
Well, finally we can take a breath. The financial wolf is no longer at the door, and we have room to dream. We know we will continue to advocate the power of intergenerational connection and embody the principles and ethics that brought us together.
I’m so excited to see how the ideas we are piloting in Stitch Together help find more women who will continue our legacy, nurture the seeds we’ve planted, and help them grow and blossom throughout the broader community.
Because, in the end, The Nest is not just about craft. It’s about community built on the strength of shared purpose and making incredible things happen.