We would like to introduce you to one of our charity partners, Woven Earth. An amazing charity dedicated to taking positive action against family violence. We spoke with Kerryn Thrupp - founder, CEO, Trustee and the driving force behind Woven Earth. Learn about the impactful work of Woven Earth and how you can get involved.
Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you do.
I’m a mum of two children (and two fur babies), my passion has always been community and people. Following my OE, I pursued my Masters in Communication Management in Sydney. I was honoured with an Asia Pacific award for my thesis on volunteer retention and recruitment - never imagining at the time where my life journey would take me! I have always had a passion for community and people.
My personal experience with family violence and homelessness, and time spent in a Women’s Refuge forced me to rebuild my, and my children’s lives. The legal system prevents me from sharing many details about our horrific story, but what I can tell you is that four long years of navigating the system taught me a lot about hardship, community, and system abuse. It has also profoundly shaped my understanding of the struggles faced by those fleeing family violence.
Inspired by the help I received, and experiencing first-hand the massive gap in support for families brave enough to break the cycle of abuse, I launched Woven Earth. It was the same day my children and I were finally released from the court system and granted safety in New Zealand
What has your proudest moment been since starting Woven Earth?
Every home we do, every family and life we change are my proudest moments and motivation to never give up and continue to grow the support for Woven Earth. We don’t just talk about what we think should happen - we do it and we walk our talk every single day. We see the tears of gratitude and the exhausted faces of people who carry so much trauma and heartbreak on their shoulders. We see them lifted up and smiling through their tears as we show them through their new home. How could we ever not do this? I always say if every single person could see this and be part of our service then I’m sure we would never have to beg for funding ever again.
I’m so very proud of the incredibly positive reputation we have from showing up over and over again and delivering on the promise of our service. Since I started Woven Earth in 2019, we have furnished over 680 homes, empowered over 3,000 people to rebuild their lives free from violence and helped over 1,300 children in their journey through fleeing family violence. Those stats are definitely something to be proud of!
How can people get involved with or support Woven Earth?
There are three main ways you can support our work:
Gifting items - We are always in need of excellent quality, pre-loved household items and homewares. Including furniture, beds, homewares, toys, books and sporting goods - and any essentials needed to furnish a home and help a family feel cared for. We have a high dignity radar and ask you help us maintain this with the items you gift, items you would want to receive. To gift items, fill in the form on our website under the Donate tab - we can collect furniture and larger items too.
Giving financial support - 60% of the items we provide to families are excellent quality, second-hand gifts from caring donors. 40% consists of brand new items that give a hand up and the dignity they deserve. Any financial support – large or small – helps us directly furnish homes.
Partnering with us - We offer many ways for businesses to get involved. Sponsorship opportunities, employee engagement through donation gathering, volunteering, in-house speaking engagements and access to training, education and resources.
What is the best advice you’ve been given?
There are many challenges to running a charity like Woven Earth, but the main ones are funding, enough item donations to fill the homes because the referrals are not slowing - they are sadly growing (particularly larger furniture items like beds, dining suites and whiteware) and time! I often feel there aren’t enough hours in the day!
The best advice I have been given in this charity space is that you can’t save everyone but you can make a difference one family at a time, so focus on what you can do, not what you haven’t been able to do.
Favourite way to unwind after a long day?
I unwind by hanging out with my children, dogs and being in nature – I’m lucky because we have beautiful piece of land and native bush to retreat to after a hectic week. That is my medicine for keeping the balance with the full-on nature of not-for-profit work.
Is there a particular story or event that has stuck with you that you’d like to share?
We have the most incredible stories of how people we have helped have gone on to grow and set their life up to achieve their dreams.
My team blow me away with what we achieve for families. Once we took on the challenge of setting up two homes, side by side, for two young families coming from the same refuge into their own homes on the same day. It was a huge team effort; 10 volunteers, many hours of organising, picking, and finally packing the van and the truck. In just under three hours, we had created two loving homes for two mums and three children. When one of the mums walked into her bedroom, she cried and told us that she had never had her own room in her life. I wish we could show you the videos of the girls' screams of delight as they discovered their bedrooms, and the tears on these Mums' faces as the reality of their new homes sank in.
What stays with you is the shrieks of joy from the children as they discover their new home and their bedrooms filled to bursting with items hand-selected just for them. In short, we’re all about helping to create a home that is tailored to each family and meets their individual needs. We know we have succeeded when the happy tears start flowing from families and our team!