Rebecca Monaghan with daughters Lainie (12) and Chloe (9).
Camera IconRebecca Monaghan with daughters Lainie (12) and Chloe (9). Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Smiles return for Gosnells family after Smith Family help

Ben SmithComment News

The father of her two children, Chloe (9) and Lainie (12), passed away in 2015 and soon after, her parenting payments were cut.

She was struggling to help pay for school supplies for her daughters, until The Smith Family stepped in.

Her two girls now receive financial support from the charity’s Learning for Life program and Ms Monaghan said without their help, it would have been very hard to get the basics for her girls.

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“It helps with the cost of school and sending them to school. It’s used for shoes and uniform and it takes a chunk out of what it would be.”

“(Without it) it would be a lot harder financially, it opens up to be able to do other stuff with them as well, as that money isn’t going towards school.”

Miss Monaghan’s daughter Chloe also benefits from the charity’s Student2Student program, which involves an older ‘buddy’ help her with her reading and grammar.

“She’s really enjoying it, she’s just started it and it’s given her more of an interest in reading, she’s enjoying the phone calls to her buddy.”

The Smith Family WA general manager Ian Moore said unfortunately, cases like Ms Monaghan’s were not isolated.

“A staggering 1.1 million children and young people live in poverty in Australia. One in three children from Australia’s most disadvantaged communities start school already behind in key learning areas, such as literacy and numeracy.”

The Smith Family recently launched their Winter Appeal to encourage members of the public to donate and help

“We’re relying on donations from generous Australians to help hundreds of disadvantaged children across Western Australia with the extra support they need to catch up at school and really thrive in their education.”

Donations can be made to The Smith Family’s Winter Appeal on 1800 024 069 or at thesmithfamily.com.au.

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