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In this newsletter:
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Please don’t miss this special opportunity
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If you haven’t already secured your seat, please join us for lunch on February 26, 2026, and help us celebrate 10 years of care, community, and critical support at Mary’s House Services.
We would love you to be in the room as we mark the beginning of our 10th anniversary celebrations and look ahead to the next decade of safety and hope for women and children in our community.
On the day, you’ll hear from our incredible supporter community, individuals, organisations, and volunteers who continue to say no to domestic and family violence and yes to hope, and safety.
And in a first from us; you’ll hear directly from our frontline practitioners, who will share how the services you support are changing lives every day, providing pathways to safety, stability, and a renewed sense of future.
These stories are grounded in care, compassion, and courage. They reflect what’s possible when a community comes together to respond to the ongoing societal issue of domestic and family violence and abuse.
We would be honoured to have you with us on this milestone occasion for our service.
Venue: Shangri-La Hotel, The Rocks
Date: 12:15pm, Thursday 26 Feb 2026
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A journey from fear to safety |
Caro is a young woman, a mother, a daughter, a sister and in every sense, part of our community. A resident of Sydney’s lower north shore, who worked in a professional role in the CBD, and from the outside, her life appeared stable and secure.
Inside her home, however, Caro and her two young children were living in circumstances no family should ever have to.
She was experiencing domestic and family violence in multiple forms, emotional and financial abuse, coercive control, and physical violence. Over time, the impact of this eroded her sense of safety and self-worth. Caro carried the burden, believing she had failed as a mother and was unable to protect herself or guarantee her children’s long-term wellbeing.
When she reached out to Mary’s House Services, she was in urgent need of safety, refuge, and specialist support.
Our team responded immediately.
We provided police and court advocacy as she navigated complex legal and safety processes. We secured emergency accommodation to ensure Caro and her children had a safe place to stabilise while waiting for a place at our refuge, away from their perpetrator.
After 102 days at the refuge, we supported Caro’s transition into longer-term, affordable, and secure housing helping her and her children begin to rebuild a sense of normality and independence.
Her children had left home without essential belongings, so we worked with local education centres to provide clothing, school items, and everyday essentials, enabling them to return to learning with confidence. Caro was also able to begin exploring part-time work again.
Gift cards provided by our community gave this mother the ability to make choices for her family at a time when so much felt out of her control. We even ensured their beloved pets were safely billeted until they could be reunited as a family.
Their healing, however, was about more than physical safety.
Caro was enrolled in our counselling and therapeutic programs to support her emotional state.
Through these programs, she met other women from similar circumstances ensuring she truly understood that she was not alone, and, with our help, there was a way forward.
Today, Caro and her children are living safely in a stable home, continuing to rebuild their lives supported by a community that chose hope and safety to support them when they needed it most.
That community is you.
This outcome was made possible by the generosity of everyone who believes that every woman and child deserves safety, hope and a future free from violence. Caro and her children needed all of us and together, we responded. |
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Running for hope in the Sydney Marathon 2026 |
Now one of the great global marathon events, the Sydney Marathon on Sunday, August 30, offers a powerful opportunity for our community to demonstrate their stamina and resilience by running for Mary’s House Services.
In this newsletter, we are proud to introduce the first two runners who have committed to taking on this iconic course for us.
Steve is one of the owners of the Sydney’s north shore’s most loved dining destinations, Piato, on Blues Point Road in McMahons Point.
Niki Paramor, our newest Mary’s House Services Board Member, is the Executive Director at Left Field Group, a multidisciplinary investment management firm.
Both are experienced marathon runners, and this August they’ll be striding out with purpose carrying the hopes of the Mary’s House community with every kilometre.
If you’d like to support their efforts or learn more about running in the Sydney Marathon for Mary’s House Services, you can: |
| |  |  |  | | | To find out how you can help email us. |
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Creatively creating pathways to safe homes through meanwhile use housing |
Domestic and family violence is the largest contributor to homelessness in our nation and finding safe, affordable accommodation remains one of the greatest challenges facing women and children as they rebuild their lives particularly amid a national rental crisis.
Mary’s House Services has been fortunate to access from our generous supporter community what we call meanwhile use housing: homes or apartments generously made available on a longer-term, temporary basis before permanent use or redevelopment takes place.
Recently, one such property enabled a woman and her children to move on from our refuge into a stable, secure home giving them the breathing space to begin rebuilding their lives with confidence and certainty.
On average, women and children stay at our refuge for around 93 days. From there, it is essential that we can transition families into another safe environment so they can move forward and regain independence.
We are reaching out to our community to share this story and ask whether you, or someone you know, might consider making a property available in this way. Your generosity could help create a vital bridge between crisis and long-term stability for a family in need.
If you think you may be able to help, please email us.
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Our new secure client information portal |
As part of our decade of growth and our aspiration to deliver world’s best practice Mary’s House Services applied for and secured grant funding to build a new, and even more secure client information system designed around one simple principle: our clients’ stories matter, and they deserve to be handled with care, and respect.
Throughout 2025, we have been working with an Australian provider and have-licensed and customised the Mary’s House Services client portal. In an era where data protection is of paramount support this portal has been designed with clear purpose-built measures aligned to Mary’s House Services’ strategic plan allowing us to track outcomes for women and their children, particularly around safety and to share, in a meaningful way with our broader community relevant metrics of the real social impact of the care you make possible through your support.
Simultaneously allowing us to plan for the future while keeping the needs of women and children at the centre of everything we do.
For our clients, this means fewer times having to repeat their story, faster and more coordinated responses, and smoother access to the support they need when they need it most.
As our work has expanded beyond the refuge to include community programs, specialist casework, and broader partnerships, the need for a thoughtful, secure, and more flexible platform became clear.
Over time, this system will also help us better understand where demand is growing, where gaps exist, and how we can continue to strengthen and evolve our service and programs for the women and children who turn to us.
“Every woman who comes to Mary’s House brings a story that deserves to be heard once and carried forward with care,” says our CEO. “This system allows our teams to respond more quickly and more thoughtfully, while always protecting privacy and confidential information.”
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Leaving a legacy of hope |
At the start of each year, many of us take time to reflect on what matters most and the impact we hope to make not just today, but into the future.
This year, Mary’s House Services is focusing on growing our community of regular supporters who choose to give through monthly donations, again helping us plan ahead and ensure women and children can access safety and support whenever they need it.
We also recognise that some members of our community may wish to create a lasting legacy through a gift in their will, a very personal and meaningful way to help shape a future where safety, and hope are available to every woman and child who turns to us.
If you would like to have a confidential conversation about this, we welcome you to contact our Philanthropy and Communications Manager, Janine Wood, at:
janinew@maryshouse.org.au
0432 445 206
We respect that these decisions are thoughtful and private, and we are always grateful for the care and consideration shown to Mary’s House Services and the families we support. |
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We’d love to hear from you |
Staying connected with our community matters to us, and we want to make sure our communications reflect what’s most meaningful to you.
We invite you to take part in a short survey to help us better understand how we can share our impact, stories, and opportunities in ways that feel relevant and engaging. The survey will take approximately 8–10 minutes to complete, and you can choose to remain anonymous if you wish.
As a small thank you, all participants who choose to include their details will go into the draw to win a gift voucher generously donated by our community. The winner will be drawn on March 26, 2026.
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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 primarily 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. #SayYesToHopeAndSafety
Please follow us on socials to stay up to date with the lifesaving work we do every day. |
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