Employees Sponsor 8 Grants to Impact Australian Communities
Eight HDR Australia Fund grants totalling AU$40,000 will impact the communities where HDR’s Australia employees live and work.
Each grant is sponsored by an employee with a passion for the charity receiving the funds.
“I have been working with Pushing Barriers since late 2018 as a volunteer,” said Peter Nel, director at HDR and sponsor of a grant to provide sports equipment and uniforms to refugee children. “The universal language of team sport is a fantastic vehicle to help assimilate disadvantaged youth into a new country, fostering confidence, resilience and belonging — being part of a team. As a migrant myself, I am humbled when I reflect on the privileged ease with which I could migrate to this great country when I see the struggle and pain that these kids all had to endure to find hope and safety.”
The grants focus on causes related to education, healthy communities and the environment — the three focus areas of the HDR Foundation and HDR Australia Fund.
“I was raised by a single mother in a low socioeconomic area where the unemployment rate was as high as 10% in my early twenties,” said Ashley Clark, HDR civil drafter and sponsor of a grant to Sisters Inside, which provides services to address the needs and human rights of incarcerated or recently released women and girls. “This grant means supporting women and their children to access emergency housing, food, transport and other needs. I feel very strongly that much of the struggles people go through are not their fault, and everyone should be given an opportunity for compassion, healing and a second chance.”
Huey Moo, associate director and architect at HDR, sponsored a grant to Anglicare Victoria for the “Dream Day” program at the Melbourne Zoo for children in foster care.
“Over six years volunteering with Anglicare, my family and I have been blessed with an experience we will never regret,” Moo said. “Each hand that we hold to get the grant out to the little hands of the foster kids makes the world a better place.”
Read more about the latest grants.
About the HDR Australia Fund
Funded and driven by HDR employees since 2021, the HDR Australia Fund is a charitable fund with the Australia Communities Foundation, dedicated to serving communities across Australia. Modelled after the U.S.-based HDR Foundation, the HDR Australia Fund gives preference to organisations located in communities in which our Canadian employees live and work.
About HDR
HDR is a 100% employee-owned professional services firm. Founded over a century ago to bring electricity to a changing world, we are now a global company specialising in architecture, engineering, environmental and construction services. Our success in built and natural environments continues as we collaborate to solve our clients’ and communities’ most complex challenges.
