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Your chance to win and our client’s chance to breathe a little easier this Christmas
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Before 2025 slips quietly into its festive glow, we wanted to offer you something a little special, with sparkle and an opportunity to relax:
A chance to win some truly wonderful, generously donated prizes and give a woman and her children the chance for a fresh start.
Every Christmas, the need for safety surges. Domestic and family violence and abuse incidents rise by 78% across Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day.
It’s a sobering statistic, but together we can, as always, provide hope.
When you buy a raffle ticket, you help us meet the surge with critical care, compassion and action.
A ticket for you. A potential lifeline for our clients.
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| FIRST PRIZE |
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| 6 tickets to the Westpac Open Air Cinema 2026 experience.* |
| SECOND PRIZE |
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| One dozen bottles of Brokenwood Sparkling Wine. |
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| THIRD PRIZE |
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| One night's accommodation* at the Vibe Hotel in North Sydney. |
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| FOURTH PRIZE |
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| Luxury Beach Towel from Business & Pleasure. |
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Drawn December 19th, 2025
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Winners announced on socials and our website and advised by phone and email.
Prizes available for immediate collection.
*1st and 3rd prizes are subject to availability. |
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Our Hope Lives Here Luncheon 2026
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In 2026, Mary’s House Services will celebrate 10 years of doing what communities do best when they refuse to look away, striving to keep women and children safe.
On Thursday 26 February, we’ll gather at the Shangri-La Hotel for our first-ever Hope Lives Here Luncheon, an event shaped by purpose, courage, and the kind of community spirit that built Mary’s House in the first place.
Expect a room full of people who believe safety is non-negotiable.
Expect stories of resilience that will stay with you long after dessert.
Expect to be part of something that feels less like an event and more like a movement.
Expect to say no to domestic and family violence.
Venue: Shangri-La Hotel
Date: Thursday 26 Feb 2026
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| A decade of hope deserves a celebration and a future worth building together. |
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The last year has shown us
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2 in 5
Australians would not know where to go if they needed outside support for someone impacted by domestic and family violence
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1 in 4
Children are impacted by domestic and family violence
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Police respond to one D&FV call
every 3
minutes
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60%
of police time relates to domestic and family violence
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Around
50%
of D&FV incidents go unreported
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At Mary’s House Services:
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We now offer
11
different community programs in our new North Sydney CBD centre
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We were forced to decline*
118 women
due to limited accommodation and social-work capacity
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We housed
38
individuals
at our refuge:
21 women and 17 children, including another newborn and six toddlers
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Relocated
23 women
and their families to longer term safe affordable housing
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*Though we never leave anyone unsafe, we hustle until they have emergency care.
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These numbers aren’t just statistics. They’re a reminder of why we’re here and why your support enables us to make the impact we do!
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Our 2025 Annual & Financial Reports |
As a supporter-led service, transparency, and trust guide everything we do.
You can explore our 2025 performance and impact, both of which we are immensely proud, here: |
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NSW Volunteer Team of the Year |
We are so proud for them and of them!
Our extraordinary volunteer team won the NSW Regional Volunteer Team of the Year Award and last week headed to the state finals. |
The ceremony was held at Norths Cammeray, part of the Norths Collective, a long-standing partner of Mary’s House Services.
Whilst we didn't take home the prize on the day - we shout out to our volunteers; you will always be winners to us!
Your dedication and compassion - always unassuming, steady, and valued.
You show up for us, when we need you most! Thank you for being in our corner and supporting victim-survivors of domestic and family abuse by giving your time and skill so generously.
Congratulations to all.
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16 Days of Activism digital safety matters |
As this newsletter reaches you, we are in the final days of the 16 Days of Activism, a global campaign driven by the UN urging us all to stand against gender-based violence.
This year’s theme focuses on digital safety a crucial issue, especially for the women and children we support. With more than 90% of our clients presenting with some form of technological/digital abuse. For many of our clients, technology is a tool misused for monitoring, control, and harm.
We encourage everyone in our community to:
- Update passwords regularly
- Strengthen online privacy settings
- Check phones and computers for spyware
- Practise safe browsing
- Remember that not everyone online has good intentions
Our cyber-safety services to clients increased by 222% this year a reminder that digital vigilance is no longer optional, its mandatory.
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Our Christmas Appeal: A Fresh Start for 2026 |
Our year-end appeal is underway, helping us provide critical accommodation, specialist social work, and safety for families escaping danger and ensuring they have the essential and practical items they require. All wrapped and tied up with compassion, hope and support for as long as it takes.
A gift today becomes a fresh start tomorrow.
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A Message from Our CEO, Yvette Vignando |
As we close the year, I want to thank you sincerely for standing with Mary’s House Services. This community is extraordinary. Your generosity, advocacy and faith in our work allow us to provide safety and dignity to women and children when they need it most.
The need is great with demand for our services increasing by 63 % last year, but so is our determination.
In 2026 we will share more of our story publicly, advocate loudly, deepen partnerships, and grow the impact of our support services all for the purpose of helping more women and their children, those who flee to our region from their abuser and those from the immediate surrounds.
Our hopes for the future remain bold: more accommodation, more social workers, more support for children, and more pathways to long-term safety.
Thank you for helping make them possible. |
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On behalf of the many women and their children we care for, our Board and the team from Mary’s House Services, we wish you a peaceful, warm, and safe festive season, and my heartfelt thanks for another year of shared purpose.
Long may our collaborative care last!
With sincere gratitude,
Yvette Vignando
CEO
Mary's House Services
02 8937 2094 |
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ABOUT US
Mary’s House Services was founded in Sydney's Northern Suburbs by a group of dedicated community members in 2016. Since establishment, our refuge and community program work has been sustained solely by the generosity of the community - those who care deeply about the safety of women and children and are committed to saying no to domestic violence in any form. #SayNo |
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