GATEWAY FAMILY SERVICES
Project: Successful
The Goal
The third Sunshine Project under its Green Community Program was on behalf of Gateway Family Services to raise funds to install a 7.9kW solar system and a Tesla Powerwall 2.0 battery at the building from which Gateway operates in the grounds of Uniting Church, Old Bathurst Road, Blaxland NSW. Gateway has been there for 25 years rent free.
The principal of Gateway Family Services, Gregory Lazarus, with MP for Blue Mountains, Trish Doyle, MP for Macquarie, Susan Templeman, Sunshine Project Board Members and Jim Hill, principal of Nepean Solar.
Campaign Information
The project was completed successfully in August 2020. The solar system had generated 3 megawatts of power by Christmas 2020 and Gateway’s power bills are now virtually non-existent.
Gateway’s mission is to support families by helping to strengthen relationships between parents/carers and their children. All families can build resilience, belonging, safety for all children with the right support at the right time. Gateway also offers emergency assistance programs for individuals, couples and families; giving food, vouchers towards power and water bills, Christmas hampers; information about community support services.
To raise funds for the project, the same process was utilized, with one dollar of every carbon offset sold by Ecoprofit (making businesses and households carbon neutral) donated to Sunshine Project for Community Inc (“SPFC”). SPFC successfully submitted grant applications to both Federal and State governments to help get the project completed. A special thank you to both governments and in particular, Macquarie MP, Susan Templeman and Blue Mountains MP, Trish Doyle who so ably supported the applications.