Everyone loves a feel-good story, and the transport industry is chock full of them. Every week we hear about drivers, operators or organisations doing their best to lift people who might need a helping hand. In fact, they’re often featured in this publication.
For every story that is told though, there could be 1000 that aren’t, and the association of national transport operator Centurion with charity Uniforms 4 Kids is one of the great, untouched industry partnerships.
Uniforms 4 Kids has been helping clothe in need children across Australia and the Pacific Islands for close to a decade now. After it was started in 2015 by former police officer Yvonne Patterson, it became a registered charity in 2018 and has since grown to operate right around the country.
For the past five years, Western Australia-based Centurion has taken care of the transport needs of the Queensland-based charity, and since its involvement started in 2020, the scope of its operations has soared.
A key point of difference in Uniforms 4 Kids’ mission is its repurposing of donated law enforcement and emergency services uniforms that would have otherwise been disposed of an ended up in landfill.
Instead, they’re turned into all manner of clothes, bags and blankets that have touched regional and remote communities across Australia and beyond.
In doing this, Uniforms 4 Kids also reinforces positive relationships between children and emergency services like police and fosters a sense of community for its volunteer sewers – many of whom are retirees.
Anne Macdonald is one of the driving forces behind the charity as its operations coordinator and director. As a former Queensland police officer with a stellar career behind her, she has seen firsthand the positive impact the charity’s operations are able to have
She says the transport industry, through Centurion’s involvement, has been crucial at not just helping the charity thrive, but in simply keeping it alive.
“Without them, we would not be able to exist in the capacity we do today,” Macdonald says. “There is no way we would have the reach or the ability to distribute what we do.
“We used to use Australia Post to take everything around the country before Centurion came on board. I’ve got nothing against Australia Post, but you can imagine how much money that was costing us.
“It was so cost prohibitive in terms of what we wanted to do, and what we could do, because we were only small back then.
“Centurion doesn’t care whether I ring them and say I’ve got one box of clothing to go to Port Douglas, or I’ve got 10 boxes of clothing to go to Western Australia or Victoria.
“They don’t care what quantity I’m sending. As we need to send it, we’re able to send it.”
If Macdonald is a driving force behind Uniforms 4 Kids, Centurion executive general manager of strategic development Craig Blyton is a driving force behind Centurion’s involvement.
Blyton straddles the middle of this relationship between this great charity and this national transporter. Aside from being one of Centurion’s major executives, he also sits on the Uniforms 4 Kids board.
With collaborations like this, it would be easy for drivers and those on the ground to be unaware of the good they’re doing in taking these items from point a to point b anywhere in the country, but Blyton says awareness of the crucial work goes right down the organisational chain, and it’s a feel-good story that permeates through the company.
“Everyone that’s involved in this from the delivery driver that comes and picks it up to the people that are delivering all the way up the line are more than happy to pitch in,” Blyton says.
“We do briefings for the staff, we have it in our newsletters, and we do all sorts of things to make sure everyone is aware – and it’s not just Uniforms 4 Kids, although this is a cause that is, personally, very close to my heart.
“Everyone that’s involved really understands it, and you can see the smiles on their faces as they’re doing it. Then, everyone can see the outcome, which is so, so positive.
“It’s a really great thing for everyone to be involved with.”
With such razor thin margins operating in the transport industry, it would be easy for companies to limit their association with charitable organisations across the country, but Blyton says it is the responsibility of companies the size of Centurion to pitch in at all levels of the supply chain to enable the support of people across Australia.
“For companies the size of Centurion and in the markets we’re dealing in, especially in the geographies we play in and deliver to, I think it’s our obligation to do things like this where we’re giving back.
“In weighing up the pros and cons, I couldn’t see any reason whatsoever why we wouldn’t be a part of this.
“It helps our friends at the police bridge the gap with the people that are requiring this help, it helps the sewing groups get out of the house and build some camaraderie, and in the end result you’re actually doing something with clothes that would end up in landfill, and they’re now going to kids that would otherwise not have had clothes.
“We should be doing things like this to help people out and make sure we’re part of a social fabric that brings some good.
“It’s not a big imposition on us financially, they’re in the areas we operate and we’re travelling to anyway, and our drivers are heavily involved.
“There’s a little bit of cost involved, yes, but in the big scheme of things the outcomes you’re getting for these kids that would otherwise not be clothed properly through no fault of their own, is perfect.
“We just have to put a couple of extra cartons on to have a big impact in peoples’ lives.
“There’s plenty of bad things going out there, so for our people to be able to do some good that puts a smile on everyone’s faces, it makes perfect sense.”
Centurion with its willing and able drivers has been able to help support a huge expansion in Uniforms 4 Kids’ ability to reach all corners of Australia in all aspects of its operations.
Macdonald says one of the most incredible parts about the ongoing partnership, though, is the speed and willingness with which Centurion moves Uniforms 4 Kids’ fabrics and clothes. The charity is by no means an afterthought.
“We’re very lucky to have this wonderful company in Sydney donate some fabric to us,” Macdonald says. “Centurion organised to go to this company and pick up the fabric, then they took it to their major hub in Newcastle and sent it up to me on the Sunshine Coast.
“I had it within three days.
“They’re not just putting something on a truck if there’s space available, they put it on the trucks as they’re going, and it’s just amazing.
“It’s not just fabrics and clothing though. We supply library bags, soft toys, pencil cases with pencils in them, we supply blankets to the ambulance service to give to kids who might be frightened, and we give things to a variety of domestic violence shelters, children’s wards in major hospitals, and that’s all aided by being able to move things quickly and get them to where they need to go.”
Whether it be made from uniforms sourced from the police, ambulance services, fire services, the SES, or Australia Zoo, Uniforms 4 Kids is once again springing into action to help those who have been impacted by the recent weather events that have smashed Queensland and New South Wales.
From the repeated flooding occurring in Far North Queensland and Townsville, to the damage left behind by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred in south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales, the charity is one of countless organisations Australia-wide that is helping pick up and dust off the impacted residents of the areas.
Only recently 900 items of clothing were given to children in the Townsville and Ingham regions, with Centurion transporting the clothes and handing them over to the Townsville district officers.
To date, roughly 70,000 items of clothing have been delivered Australia-wide by Uniforms 4 Kids to children who need them.
So, next time you’re on the road and pass a Centurion truck, give the driver an extra-large smile and wave – because you never know what they might be carrying or where they might be carrying it to.
“To see the effort they go into with everyone that’s donating and then giving their time to box this up, it’s only right that we contribute to get it to the right people,” Blyton says.
“Anything we can do to power this along and take away from of the financial burden, it’s an important thing to do.”
“This started about just being about the kids,” Macdonald adds. “But it’s evolved to be about both the kids and our volunteers.
“Uniforms 4 Kids is absolutely nothing without our volunteers and our supporters. It’s all just one big family.
“To have someone like Centurion on board to transport our clothing and bring us items and materials around Australia, it’s made the world of difference in what we do.
“And if anyone out there has some lazy thousands lying around they’ve got nothing to do with, we’re always looking for donations!”
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