What is the Grandies Gifting Program?

Grandies was born in 2001, initially under the Sydney Basket Brigade, a separate program also operating under the umbrella of the Magic Moments Foundation.

Grandies was formed out of the desire of a small group of Magic Moments Foundation volunteers, to put a smile on the faces of a group of people often forgotten by society, our grand old oldies which they affectionately call Grandies. This program now reaches across Australia, focusing on the elderly, the grandmas and the grandpas who may either be at home alone or in hostels or nursing homes with no family at all or nearby to support them.

The Grandies programs provide the opportunity for volunteers to anonymously support these wonderful elders of our society by helping to provide them gifts and much needed items, and through those gifts let them know that there are people that care for them.

The dedicated Grandies committees work with local grassroot nursing homes, hostels and NFPs to identify Grandies (that volunteers can adopt anonymously). The nominating nursing homes, hostels or NFP have their carers or health care providers nominate a Grandie and prepare a wish list on their behalf. These details are then provided to Grandies.

The committee then matches that Grandie with a volunteer donor who adopts the Grandie and pledges to buy the Grandie’s wishlist of items. The items are then checked, wrapped and packed by the Grandie’s committee and delivered to the nursing home, hostel or NFP for distribution to the Grandie by the nursing homes, hostels or NFP.

Who Are the BGC Grandies?

The Brisbane Gold Coast Grandies (BGC Grandies) group are a small committee of dedicated volunteers that have brought the Grandies program to Queensland for the very first time in 2020.

They are a sister charity to the very successful Brisbane Basket Brigade which has been operating in Brisbane since 1995. The Brisbane Basket Brigade is also a part of a national charity run through the Magic Moments Foundation. They provide food and Christmas gifts which are packaged into baskets and delivered anonymously to underprivileged individuals and families at Christmas time.

The Brisbane Basket Brigade have always supported the elderly in their programs however they saw that there was a need to support our elderly residents with more targeted requests, thus the BGC Grandies program was born.

Rather than provide baskets of food and donated gifts, BGC Grandies work with local grassroot nursing homes, hostels and NFPs to identify Grandies that may be isolated or have no family of their own and prepare a wish list of targeted items that the Grandie may need or want but cannot easily obtain.

BGC Grandies will run in 2020 as a Christmas program only. The items will be provided to the Grandie anonymously as a Christmas gift by the nominating nursing home, hostel or NFP.

Magic Moments Foundation

The Magic Moments Foundation is a group of like-minded volunteers who contribute to make community-based projects a success throughout Australia.

Their mission is to arm people with the knowledge, skills and support to enable them to become the person they need to be and to have the life they dream of having.

Committees of volunteers operate at a grassroots level on all their programs to ensure efforts are directed to those most in need.
These passionate volunteers set outcomes for their programs, raise funds locally, seek support from local companies, organisations and individuals and implement their programs with the support of the wider community.

While from the outset it would appear the recipients of each program are the beneficiaries, the learnings and joy spreads much wider than that.  Many of our volunteers come to lend a hand and in the process find that the real gift is that of selfless giving.