MarionLIFE Community Services Inc

✨ Come meet Mariam this Saturday!

Last year, Mariam joined our ACE English Writing course to build her confidence after spending years caring for a loved one.

While putting others first, she never let go of her dream — creating beautiful handmade jewellery.

With support from our Boost Business Program, Mariam found her confidence again and took a big leap, launching her first market stall at Harmony Week earlier this year

Now she’s ready for her next step!
📍 Join us this Saturday, 20 June at the Souk Market (Tonsley, from 10am)
Come along, support local businesses, and visit Mariam’s stall to see her stunning semi-precious stone jewellery

💬 “It was a really enjoyable multicultural experience… People really liked my jewellery pieces and told me they were stunning… I'm very proud to be part of the Souk Market 2026.”

We’re so proud of you, Mariam — and we’d love our community to be there to support her 💛

MarionLIFE is becoming CommunityLIFE SA!

If you’ve been keeping an eye on MarionLIFE’s website and socials recently, you may have caught that we have a name change coming! As of 1 July, we will be doing our work as CommunityLIFE SA.

MarionLIFE was established in 1985, and has been serving the community since then. We’ve always had a focus on volunteering, on community voice driving what we do, and none of that is changing.

However, we now delivery services directly from as far south as Aldinga, right up to Edwardstown and South Plympton. We also provide services indirectly through our sub-contract with Elizabeth South Community Centre. And the truth is that having Marion in our name isn’t serving our community the way we would like. People have often confused us with other services and providers, or worse still, community members have thought they were unable to receive our support because they don’t live in Marion.

That’s why, after a long process of decision making, we have made the call to change our brand and our name.

As you can see, we’re keeping our logo pretty close to what it was: the stained-glass look is reflective of the diversity of our community, and many different people who keep us going; the green colour in LIFE continues to represent renewal and hope, as it always has. We’ve added the SA, to celebrate the way we work in so many places. We’ll also be officially naming our Mitchell Park centre “MarionLIFE House” as a way of keeping that history front and centre.

But we’re also focused on what’s ahead. We’ll be continuing to delivery support to community across Adelaide (and perhaps beyond…) with a focus on local expertise, volunteers at the heart of our work, and remaining rooted in our community, wherever that community happens to be located.

If you’ve had a connection with MarionLIFE, we look forward to continuing to connect with you into the future. And if you’re just now hearing about us, then we hope that your new link with CommunityLIFE SA will be a special one. Why not sign up for our newsletter to keep up with what’s going on? (We respect your inbox and send one email per fortnight!)

marionlife.org.au/updates

The MarionLIFE Hamper drive is still in full swing for another couple of weeks! Last week this hard-working group of staff and volunteers worked in fading light and falling rain to move over 300 hampers (more than 10 pallets worth, or about 5.5 tonnes!) into safety before the weekend. A huge thank you to everyone who turned up, mostly unpaid or on a day they normally don’t work!

We still have a number of hampers unallocated, so if you or someone you know is doing it tough at the moment, please drop in and see us for a hamper! We are open Monday to Thursday, 9:00 - 12:00

And if you’re in a position to help others in our community, please consider a donation - anything over $2 is tax deductible!

marionlife.org.au/donate

Our Emergency Relief program depends on the generosity of our community, and so many people are feeling the pressure at the moment.

Today we’re sharing a story of one of our community members. Hari came to MarionLIFE with an idea already in mind: Hari wanted to sell handmade Nepalese goods to support his community.

Through our ACE Small Business Course, and then our Boost Business Program with Silvana, Hari did the work of establishing and developing a small business, developing a value proposition and marketing materials, securing registration and business insurance, and taking the first steps as a vendor at local community market events. Hari’s first big moment came at the 2025 Harmony Day event:

“[Harmony day] was a really good opportunity to find myself trading... to see customers so interested in my handmade products, especially the rugs, which take months to weave and colour.”
— Hari

Hari joined The Souk market in Tonsley in 2025, and went again to Harmony Day in 2026. This month he will again be at The Souk (hosted by Australian Refugee Association) on 20 June, along with several other participants in our Boost Program. Get along on the day for good food and, of course, beautiful community-made products!

We’re incredibly proud of Hari, and his story reminds us of the way powerful, connected, community-led programs can be.

“I’m so grateful to MarionLIFE and the Boost program for their dedication, belief in me, and support through my journey.”

And if you’d like to hear more stories like Hari’s you can sign up for our newsletter at marionlife.org.au/updates. We respect your inbox and send one email per fortnight!

Exciting to receive our first delivery of hampers from Foodbank SA & Central Australia!

Just a reminder that if you or someone you know is doing it tough at the moment, get in touch with MarionLIFE or one of our referring partners. Check out our website for more details!

Did you catch our announcement? Chris our Executive Director was on Life FM Adelaide talking about our Winter Hamper Drive. We're helping people throughout June who are doing it tough.

Head to our website www.marionlife.org.au to find out more details!

Tune in to Life FM Adelaide 1079 right now to hear our Executive Director Chris Ellinger announce some exciting things to come in the very near future!

It’s Volunteer Week 2026, and along with our whole community of volunteers, we spoke with Chris, who has just started giving his time to MarionLIFE.

“From the first time I met the staff at MarionLIFE I felt listened to, and involved in deciding how I could best contribute. As I love sharing time, stories and food with others, we found the perfect match in the fortnightly Community Meal program. It’s great to feel cared for as a volunteer.”

MarionLIFE focuses on how we do things, as much as on what we do, and our volunteers bring this to life every day. Thanks so much Chris, and to all our volunteers, for your work with our community. MarionLIFE literally couldn’t do what it does without you!

It’s National Volunteer Week 2026, and we say a huge THANK YOU to all of our amazing volunteers, who work tirelessly to meet the needs of community! ❤️

If you've ever thought about volunteering with us, and want to know more - please reach out. We'd love to have you!

Fancy a doughnut?

Huge thanks to David and Dahlia at Brighton Jetty Bakery, who are now regularly donating baked goods to MarionLIFE on a Monday morning! If you feel like a doughnut or a fingerbun, come in for our Chatty Cafe at 9.00 on a Monday, grab a free latte or long black, and stick around for a conversation with our community.

(And if you'd like to join MarionLIFE in supporting our local community, check us out at marionlife.org.au/donate!)