The circle of giving

Trudy Forster knows what it’s like to experience poverty... and to receive help from BSL.

When I first moved to Melbourne a long time ago, I was a starving student and I didn’t own anything.

Trudy Forster

She quickly ran out of money, a humiliating experience.

“It was embarrassing and very frightening. I needed a bed and a wardrobe. And someone recommended, ‘Go to the Brotherhood, they have a really good op shop there.’ They sold me a bed and a wardrobe for the princely sum of $15 and delivered it to my share house. I said to the delivery man, ‘I’ll pay you back one day.’ And I did.”

Trudy has since been an avid donor to the BSL Op-Shops over the years.

Now Trudy wants her Gift in Will to help others. “I don’t have a lot to leave but if everybody left just a little bit, imagine how much it would add up to.

We’ve increasingly become a society of a few ‘haves’ and a large number of ‘have-nots’. Unless we can resolve the fundamental problems with the system and be more equitable, then we’re not going to solve poverty.”

Our Op-shops are now open and taking donations.

If you would like to confidentially discuss how to leave a gift in your Will, please contact our Fundraising Team on (03) 9483 1301 or email donate@bsl.org.au .

Thank you Trudy for your unwavering support of BSL over the years.