Australian Camps & Programs - Children's Charities

Cottage by the Sea now offers five different camp programs, ranging from respite camps to ongoing, three-year programs. Children's charities programs like these give kids a fun break and provide relief for parents, grandparents or carers. Partnership support is valued and includes Australian charities such as the: The Lord Mayor's Charitable Fund which helps fund the REEF program and the Myer Foundation and Sidney Myer Fund which offers support in strengthening developing sustainability practices, as well as Portland House Corporation Pty. Ltd. which allows the Cottage to offer more holidays to many needy low income children. Your own donations to Australian charities like ours are vital to keeping these programs running each year.

Download an overview of all our camp programs

Take A Break

The Take a Break program (representing the majority of our camps) covers our mainstream Cottage camps where we enhance the lives of children in need by providing short term relief care in a holiday environment, offer short term relief for families unable to care for their children due to crises, provide children with an interesting and enjoyable holiday, establish positive patterns of behaviour in children and develop social skills that assist children in group situations.

REEF

The REEF program (Recreation, Environment, Education, Friendship) aims to develop life skills and attitudes in children which improve connectedness to their families and schools and to provide positive pathways to becoming active members of their communities. The Lord Mayor's Charitable Fund has donated a total of $90,000 towards this program.

Freeman

The Freeman program, involving our patron Catherine Freeman, and in partnership with the Catherine Freeman Foundation, works in conjunction with the Take a Break or REEF programs. Children from Palm Island (where Catherine’s mother comes from) come to Cottage by the Sea to share in a camp with indigenous children from Victorian communities.

Bushfire

Cottage by the Sea designed a program for families affected by the February 2009 bushfires. It caters for holidays on an on-going basis with schools and children participating at a time that is sensitive to their social and emotional needs. Thanks to everyone who responded to our Bushfire Appeal, including Newsboys Foundation, Besen Family Foundations, Share Appeal/Uniting Church, Estate of the Late Edward Wilson, Pt. Lonsdale Primary School , as well as the CWA Healesville Nite Chicks.

Mentor

The Mentor program offers support for selected Cottage camps, training volunteer mentor leaders to connect with and act as role models for children participating in Cottage camps, as well as developing and consolidating their own leadership skills and interest in the area of children's charities.

Refugee Camp

This camp catered for children sponsored to come to Australia by the Government under the United Nations refugee program. The children, born in the Mae Le Camp on the Thailand/Burma border, survived displacement and deprivation. They enjoyed a truly wondrous seaside holiday at the Cottage.