The Hon Charles Gawith
The Gawith Foundation is named after The Hon. Charles Gawith (1910-1982), former mayor of Prahran and Member of the Victorian Legislative Council, who in 1954 helped establish the Gawith Villa adult training and support service (formerly the Prahran Helping Hand Society). The Gawith Foundation has a deep historical connection to the Inclusion Melbourne disability service.
Charles Gawith was an early entrepreneur during the Great Depression, building with his brother Victoria’s largest bread maker (Gawith Brothers) and then in 1960 launching the world’s first fully-automated bread-making plant.
This pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit animates the Gawith Foundation today. Our vision is of local communities actively embracing and including people with intellectual disability.
Embracing online and digital capabilities are a major part of our directions, and the Gawith Foundation is excited to be proposing new approaches to building inclusive communities.
Established fifteen years ago, the mission of the Gawith Foundation is to encourage and enable people with intellectual disabilities to achieve and maintain a valued quality of life within accepting communities. We achieve this through: