ANNUAL REPORT
2025
Dear fellow parishioners,
On behalf of the Board Members listed below, it gives me great pleasure to submit the 2025 annual report of Dorcas Acts-an initiative and mission outreach of the congregation of the Aspley Uniting Church.
Dorcas ACTS and is the registered business name of the registered charity Aspley Caring Through Service, ABN 20 250 897 085. Details are maintained on our website dorcas.org.au covering all areas of the charity from activities to governance.
Board members as at December 31, 2025
Everald Compton is the Dorcas ACTS Patron, he continues to provide major financial support to Dorcas ACTS and actively promotes our charity events.
**Under the Dorcas our ACTS NCVR/ATO Charter we need to have at least one external board member. Currently our only external board member is Fay Nolan from All Saints Anglican Church Chermside. I sincerely thank Bernie Meyer (long time Treasurer), Shirley Kuhbauch, and Rev Paddi Mullan (who all resigned as Board members during the year) for their dedication and devotion over many years to people in need.
Major Events 2025
March – Event was well supported by AUC parishioners with 3 carloads of in-kind donations delivered to EMMPOWER, a thrift shop that helps domestic violence victims.
June – Skills Fair was held, once again, at Albany Creek UC in conjunction with The ORCA Project which raised $4,346 with proceeds to be shared equally with ORCA.
June – Dorcas ACTS Sunday raised $34,890 from the AUC Congregation including a $20k donation.
July – 2Y’s musical concert event raised $1,050. Thank you to the 2Ys team.
August – Bunnings Carseldine Sausage sizzle (a new fundraising event) raised $1,650. It is proposed that Dorcas Acts will run a sausage sizzle bi-annually in the future. Special thanks goes to the organiser Rosemary Peters for establishing the event, and to our chef Doug Crawford and all our other volunteers.
August – Grill’d Chermside (another new fundraising event) raised $540 and event is likely
to be held again during 2026.
October – AUC Market Day
• Dorcas ACTS Market Day stall raised $376 mostly from books and donations
• Donation from Market Day $2,200
November – Foodbank collection was also strongly supported by AUC parishioners with all items donated to All Saints Anglican Church Chermside for Christmas hampers. The Dorcas ACTS event schedule is updated regularly; it is located on the website at: https://dorcas.org.au/activities/
Major Events 2026
Our major fundraising event in 2026 is Walk In The Spirit (WITS26). The flagship element of this event is where Everald Compton, on his 95th birthday, will lead a 11km walk around the base of Uluru. There will also be local neighbourhood walks around the country, with
a choice of 3, 5, or 11 km, it is an inclusive event with those aged from 5 to 105 years old being eligible. The event date is Monday 5 October 2026, a public holiday.
The Dorcas ACTS board is running the local Aspley/Chermside walk, so please register to join the walk or to volunteer; other walks such as Sunshine Coast and Tweed Valley are being planned. Our fundraising target is $100,000.
Detailed information is available on the new website, https://spiritwalker.org.au/ youcan also register to walk or volunteer on this website. To help promote the event Neill Florence and Everald Compton have written a new book, join us at the book launch lunch on Friday 27 March 2026, to buy tickets go to: https://spiritwalker.org.au/book-launch/#book-launch-registration All the events for 2026 are displayed the Dorcas ACTS website at: https://dorcas.org.au/activities/#projects-and-events
Fanancial Report
# excludes inkind services donation of $10,000
## registrations and donations opened in Dec 2025
Note all expenses are donated as in-kind donations or cash is given for purchasing a specific expense; 100% of fund-raising donations go to Dorcas ACTS.
Grants totalling $26,500 were paid as regular periodic grants, e.g. quarterly grants, to Dorcas ACTS partners including Rosies, Andy’s Place, and All Saints Chermside Soup Kitchen. 28 Grants totalling $32,040 were paid as once-off grant to individuals or families in crisis, or needing education support.
100% of grants were paid to Queenslanders in 2025, this is a reflection of the nature disasters in 2025 not a change a policy. Dorcas ACTS operates as a charity to help Australians in crisis regardless of state.
Mid-year we increased out standard grant amount from $1,000 to $1,250 in recognition of headline inflation increasing by a cumulative 25% over the last 4 years^^.
^^Inflation estimates are based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Consumer Price Index (CPI), All groups, weighted average of the eight capital cities.
Grant (Gift) Analysis
Governance
Some governance changes have been made with:
1. Creation of an executive committee consisting of Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary and Community Officer (Carma Hambley).
2. Creation of a WITS26 sub-committee consisting of the executive committee excluding the Chairperson to review and approve WITS26 projects and expenses.
3. Each board member is responsible for a portfolio area e.g. marketing, community service, membership, newsletter etc.
4. Treasurer has taken over the responsibility of issuing donor receipts from Jenni,
Marketing
- The news/blogs are maintained on the website at: https://dorcas.org.au/news-blog/. In addition, 3 newsletters were published during 2025, placed on the website and emailed to all stakeholders.
- The popup stand at Aspley Hypermarket outside Coles Supermarket on 9th August was a way to lift awareness of Dorcas ACTS within the community. Our resident authors Everald Compton, Neil Florence and John Thompson-Gray were on hand at various times during the day to sell their books with all proceeds going to Dorcas Acts.
- T-shirts with board members name and Dorcas Acts logo were ordered (and paid for by each board member) during the year. Board members wear their T-shirt when attending functions in the community.
- New Dorcas ACTS branding was created at the start of the year, large pop-up signs and a sandwich board were created and used at all Dorcas ACTS events (the cost of the signs was donated).
- The Dorcas ACTS website has been updated and extended; The plan is for the Walk In The Spirit (WITS) Event will be a recurring event, held at different venues over the years.
- A separate identity for the Uluru Walk Event has been created including new domain, registered business name, logo, website (with ticketing and payment gateway), brochures etc. The website is https://spiritwalker.org.au/.
Operations
- A Square terminal was purchased to streamline payment processing at fundraising events
- A separate bank account was established to manage the WITS26 event. No Dorcas ACTS funds will be used to setup the event, 100% of donations received from the WITS26 event will go to Dorcas ACTS.
Dorcas ACTS PARTNERS
Supporting people in need was provided through Partnership with:
1. The ORCA Project of the Wesley Mission Qld – joint annual fund-raising events such as the Skills Fair are held.
2. Rosies – Friends on the Street: meals for the poor, the unemployed, and the homeless.
3. The Queensland Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Foundation QATSIF:
• Provides educational scholarships to support eligible First Nations students with the educational costs for their senior studies.
4. St John’s Cathedral Brisbane: food vouchers and bedding items for the homeless.
5. Andy’s Place (St Andrews Uniting Church), Brisbane: meals and food parcels for
• The homeless, families with bills to pay, and food hampers for the Christmas season.
6. All Saints Anglican Church Chermside: meals for the homeless and offering a place to socialize briefly through their Soup Kitchen as well as food hampers for the Christmas season.
Outlook
There is growing demand for support for those in crisis especially in the areas of domestic violence, housing shortage, and cost-of-living increases which have disproportionately impacted the vulnerable. Undoubtedly, support in the aftermath of natural disasters will
continue to be important.
We have a pressing need to expand our donor base and as such we will be increasing our marketing and promoting our events more widely; we will also be looking to partner with more community organisations. The WITS26 Uluru Walk is a national event and an example of efforts to attract a much larger donor base.
We sincerely thank and appreciate all members of the AUC Congregation and especially Ladies Fellowship, 2Y’s and market day committee members, Dorcas ACTS donors, Dorcas ACTS Partners, organizations, and supporters for standing with us in our mission to support those in need.
Finally, please let us know whenever you meet a group advocating for someone in real strife who needs our help. We accept referrals from recognised local support agencies, churches and other credible sources assisting those in crisis.
Chris Wright
Chairperson – Dorcas ACTS
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ACTS was established in 2007 when a small group of members of the ASPLEY UNITING CHURCH got together to discuss how Aspley Uniting Church could become involved in giving urgent financial help to people beyond our congregation who were in crisis situations.