Eggstatic at raffle theft response

Sarah Schwager
THE community has rallied around Living and Learning in Cardinia (LLINC) donating Easter eggs for its upcoming raffle after the whole hoard was stolen recently.
Staff at LLINC were overwhelmed by the support after initially being unsure if the fundraising could go ahead.
It had been a week of trauma for the centre after staff turned up on Monday morning to find six broken windows and rubbish strewn outside. This came after all the raffle Easter eggs were stolen from a locked glass cabinet at the Pakenham centre on 15 March between 6.30pm and 8.30pm while there was a class in another room.
But LLINC manager Judith Brown said it had been fantastic to see people who were not associated with the centre or who had long since been involved donating Easter eggs.
“We have already replaced what was there,” she said. “It’s so reassuring to see. It makes you think all the hard work is worthwhile.”
After such fantastic support, Ms Brown asked the community to now help out by buying raffle tickets.
“Now there are probably enough eggs there to make up two or three fabulous prizes,” she said.
“We now need people to buy tickets to help us raise money to support activities at the centre.”
Funds raised in the raffle will go towards a heating and cooling system at LLINC as well as general maintenance.
Ms Brown said the system probably wouldn’t get up and running until next year but it depended on how much money they raised.
LLINC office manager Bronwyn Fleming said an issue raised due to the theft was the fact that it had happened while the centre was open. “We don’t want to shut down the centre after hours because we can’t trust who is coming in and out,” she said.
Ms Fleming said LLINC wanted to keep providing the young and old with a large range of activities and services.
“We don’t support just one group, it’s so vast,” she said. “People come in for all different reasons from childcare and accredited training to emergency relief.”
The Easter raffle will be drawn on 12 April.