Announcing your 2023 Westfield Local Hero

We are excited to announce Adam Blatch from Feel the Magic as your 2023 Westfield Local Hero for Miranda!

Westfield is proud to award a community grant of $20K to help Adam and Feel The Magic to continue to grow their impact in the local community

The 2023 Westfield Local Heroes program will award 126 grants across Australia and New Zealand – totalling $1.26 million to support local communities.

For further information or to discover the Westfield Local Heroes at other Westfield centres, visit the Westfield Local Heroes website.

Your 2023 Westfield Miranda Local Hero is:

Adam Blatch

Feel the Magic

Dedicated. Compassionate. Honest.

Adam Blatch devotes his working life to supporting bereaved children after the loss of a parent, sibling or guardian.

Adam is the CEO of Feel the Magic, a small charity that helps families grieve in a healthy and positive way.

It provides evidence-based resources and offers free face-to-face and virtual camps for 500 children a year.

Resources on the charity’s website include modules titled Parenting Through Loss and Parenting Selfcare.

The camps are run by mental health professionals and developed by clinical psychologists and people with a lived experience of grief. They are a starting point for children to talk about their grief and help participants feel part of a community.

One of Adam’s innovations is to develop camps for specific groups, such as grieving families and those affected by suicide. A special graduation camp helps older teenagers live with grief as an adult.

Adam’s biggest reward is watching camp participants grow from the input they receive and the connections they make. Often the children have never previously met anyone who is going through the same experience as them.

Adam feels proud to be nominated as a Westfield Local Hero. “I am motivated every day to help more kids,” he says.

Feel the Magic will be able to accommodate 50 additional families at its Feel the Magic camps.

We'd like to thank and acknowledge our finalists who will receive a $5K grant for the organisation they represent...

Jeanette Cabrera from Civic Disability Services

Jeanette Cabrera has devoted 30 years to supporting thousands of Sutherland Shire people with disabilities. As a tireless support worker at Civic Disability Services Community Hubs, Janette has notched up many achievements. One of her standout projects is a literacy program, where participants are proud to learn to write their name and recite the alphabet.

Kellie Stubbs from The Gotcha4Life Foundation

Kellie Stubbs puts her heart and soul into helping people in the Sutherland Shire build mental fitness to improve their wellbeing and prevent suicide. Kellie is a Community and Ambassador Liaison at Gotcha4Life Foundation, where she helps prevent suicide by giving people tools to seek help, build healthy relationships and feel comfortable with vulnerability.

If you need support, please phone Lifeline: 13 11 14