simPRO dreams big for foster kids

In what was definitely the comfiest day on the work calendar, simPRO employees joined forces and held pyjama parties in offices around the world. But these parties weren’t just for fun. simPRO was raising much needed funds and awareness for children in foster care.

The fundraising effort was prompted as part of Pyjama Day, the annual fundraiser for Australian charity, the Pyjama Foundation. Fundraising was then taken to a global scale as simPRO offices worldwide joined in to raise money for similar local charities in their region.

The Pyjama Foundation was established when its founder, Bronwyn Sheenhan, became aware of the poor literacy and numeracy levels of children in care, and how this affected their future. Armed with this knowledge, and the understanding that many children in foster care are removed from their homes so quickly they don’t even have time to pack pyjamas, Bronwyn created the Pyjama Foundation. The foundation is designed to offer hope and a more positive outlook for children in foster care.

Through its Love of Learning Program, the Pyjama Foundation matches volunteers called Pyjama Angels with children in care. They spend an hour each week together working on learning-based activities to help build confidence, skills and provide ongoing support.

One of these pyjama angels is simPRO Technical Writer, Zoe Harland.

Zoe said she first heard about Pyjama Day through a friend who was a Pyjama Angel.

“She told me about how they match you up with a kid who is in foster care and you go visit them once a week and basically spend time with them. And just be a friend to them,” she said.

Zoe has now been volunteering for over a year and explained the most important part of the process is gaining the child’s trust.

“When I was first getting involved with it, one of the things that they [The Pyjama Foundation] said to me was that when there’s a Pyjama Angel in a person's life, that might be the person they’ve known the longest,” she said.

“There’s loads of people coming and going in their life - case workers, therapists. But I'm just there to be someone to hang out with.

“She [the child I have been matched with] now calls me her friend.

“To me, being a Pyjama Angel feels like such a small thing that I can do every week that helps someone else.”

simPRO CEO Sean Diljore, said the company is dedicated to supporting local and global charities so they can continue to provide much-needed services, support and resources for people in need.

“At simPRO, we live and breathe our values. And, one of simPRO’s main values is that ‘we care,’” he said.

“As a company, we’re passionate about supporting charities all around the world. We were honoured to be able to raise some much-needed funds to support children in foster care.”

As part of this global fundraising effort, the Australian simPRO office raised money for the Pyjama Foundation, New Zealand staff members raised money for Foster Hope, the United Kingdom team raised money for Barnardos and the team in the United States raised money for Together We Rise.