A $600,000 Christmas gift has moved the chief executive officer (CEO) of a Western NSW mental health organisation to tears.
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Stephanie Robinson, CEO of Lifeline Central West, said her tears were ones of "sheer joy" because the NSW government promised to give the charity a massive one-off funding boost to buy a property in Dubbo and stop paying rent.
"It is incredibly emotional, we have been stretched really beyond belief," Ms Robinson said.
"I've been teary and that's out of sheer joy...it's hard when the people who are meant to bring the hope are struggling.
"This incredible gift to us will make our jobs so much easier, it gives us breathing space."
Lifeline Central West executive director Alex Ferguson thanked the NSW government for the $600,000 and said the funding would transform the organisation.
"It allows the permanency, it allows us to get the training rooms we need because we're the largest trainer in country NSW for domestic violence and you know what sort of issue that is," he said.
"We will obviously gear up our staffing and our telephone capacity and we will become a very much bigger and stronger player in the mental health, community based business."
Mental Health Minister Bronnie Taylor credited Member for the Dubbo electorate Dugald Saunders for lobbying the government to give Lifeline the money.
Various fundraising events and community members have also donated to help Lifeline purchase its own building.