Shekinah House co-founder Louise Cowan accepts a $500 donation from Prospect Family Dental owner Dr Bing Lee.
After opening its doors late last year, Prospect Family Dental is acknowledging the overwhelming support from the Launceston community by making a donation to a local homeless charity.
Over the past two months dental surgery owner Dr Bing Lee has been contributing a percentage of the business’s fees to a donation fund until it reached $500. He then used the power of the Launceston community to help him decide which charity to choose.
“Our Facebook page hit 1,000 likes in April and we wanted to thank our valued patients for their support so we decided to make a donation to our community’s favourite charity,” Dr Lee said.
The Launceston community responded and named its top charity as Shekinah House. Dr Lee presented $500 to the charity’s co-founder and public officer Louise Cowan yesterday (Thursday) afternoon.
“Prospect Family Dental treats its patients like family and, by extension, we care about what our community cares about. Shekinah House is doing important work for Launceston and we want to support that,” he said.
Shekinah House is currently raising funds through donations and the charity store, Shop 4 Hope, at 293 Wellington St to open a homeless shelter in Launceston. The charity currently distributes bakery products to up to 45 Launceston and Longford households in need every week. It also acts as an information centre, helping people to find the right Launceston services for their needs.
The charity’s mission to open a shelter came about through Mrs Cowan recognising the need for more emergency housing options in Launceston. Shekinah House was incorporated in December 2014.
“We want to provide basic overnight accommodation for people and help them with an evening meal, breakfast, shower and laundry facilities. We also want to be able to refer them on to the right services and so they find out what is available,” Mrs Cowan said.
“The need for shelter accommodation in Launceston is far outweighed by availability. The average waiting time for housing is currently 36 weeks – and that’s if you’re a priority.
“Shekinah House committee and volunteers are very grateful to receive support from Prospect Family Dental and the Launceston community. This will help our work so much,” she said.
Mrs Cowan said the Shekinah House committee would discuss how the donation would be spent.
Prospect Family Dental is open between 8.30am and 8pm Monday to Friday and between 9am and 1pm on Saturday at Shop 8, Olde Tudor Shopping Complex, 213 Westbury Rd, Prospect.
For more information about Prospect Family Dental call 6343 0654, visit www.launcestondentist.com.au or drop in to see Dr Lee and his team. To find out more about Shekinah House call Louise on 0478 230 525 or Helen on 0429 855 640 or visit their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ShekinahHouse777.
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