Aspire Early Education partners with Life’s Little Treasures Foundation

As 2023 comes to a close early childhood provider Aspire Early Education and Kindergarten has been reflecting on a successful year of growth, change and development for children, families and staff alike. 

 

A highlight of the year has been the formation of a new partnership with Life’s Little Treasures Foundation (LLTF), a leading Australian charity dedicated to providing support, information, and assistance to families of babies who are born prematurely or sick. 

 

The LLTF mission of ‘families helping other families’ is a wonderful alignment for Aspire, and one which was welcomed by LLTF CEO Felicia Welstead. 

 

“Aspire’s support of Life’s Little Treasures Foundation has been incredible since we started working together 18 months ago to support families who have had a premature or sick baby,” Ms Welstead said. 

 

“From fundraising meal drives, to making precious book bags and pocket hearts, the Aspire team has been there with us every step of the way.”

 

Aspire’s Initiatives with LLTF 

 

Aspire took part in several initiatives in 2023 to raise awareness of the invaluable work done by LLTF. 

 

Throughout June, the Aspire community enthusiastically participated in a Heart-a-thon to craft pocket hearts for Life’s Little Treasures Foundation. These pocket hearts are hand-sewn with love and care and serve as heartfelt keepsakes for families to treasure when they are in and out of hospital. 

 

Aspire staff and families were given the challenge to see which centre could make the most pocket hearts by the end of the month. An impressive 12,531 pocket hearts were made across all Aspire centres, with Aspire Thornhill Park crowned the winner and rewarded with a dinner with the LLTF team.

 

From 18-22 September, Aspire centres then participated in a Children’s Book Donation Drive, with the aim to donate picture books to children who spend extensive amounts of time in hospital with their family. 

 

Aspire’s Kindergarten families participated and donated a copy of their child’s favourite book to share with these children. Cards were also written with special messages and calico bags were decorated by the kinder children to be delivered with the books. These were then distributed to families through the Life’s Little Treasures Foundation hospital program.

 

Throughout the year several Aspire staff also volunteered at LLTF’s corporate packing days, where they got to see first hand the amazing work LLTF does and help put together their Little Bag of Calm and Milestone packs that are sent to families in hospital.

 

Aspire’s sponsorship at Walk for Prems 

 

LLTF’s largest annual fundraiser, Walk for Prems, was held in October. This year Aspire was a major sponsor of the Walk for Prems Event that took place at nine locations across the country. 

 

Aspire teams attended the Bendigo and Melbourne events with several staff participating in the walk. Aspire had a marquee at the Melbourne event where they set up sensory activities for children to enjoy and had their incursion partner Little Sports Heroes run fun sports activities. 

 

“As Major Sponsor of our Walk for Prems it was wonderful to see the entire Aspire team embrace this event and enthusiastically promote our Walks to their families through their many centres,” Ms Welstead said. 

 

“It was great to see the Aspire community come together as a team and with the rest of Melbourne to support such a worthy cause.”

 

The importance of giving back

 

Giving back to the community and supporting a charity like LLTF is important to Aspire and its values as an organisation. Aspire was honoured to form a meaningful partnership with LLTF this year, and to have the platform to bring awareness to staff and families about LLTF’s cause and educational resources. 

 

Running these initiatives at a centre level also gave the children an understanding of supporting a charity, showing compassion and helping others in need. Aspire received positive feedback from families who participated in these initiatives, and even had some parents reach out to share their experiences of welcoming premature babies into the world, expressing their thanks for bringing attention to the unique needs this creates.

 

Aspire is excited to continue its partnership with Life’s Little Treasures in 2024 and to support a wonderful community. To learn more about Aspire and its engagement with the community, visit the website here.