Supporting over 650 students disengaged from school classrooms
June 22, 2023

Have you heard of Paw Pals?
Through the use of canine friends, MacKillop Family Services is helping transform the lives of youth in our community. 

CDF was once again proud to be a Matching Partner for this year’s Paws4Kids campaign. The month-long initiative aims to raise funds for MacKillop Family Services’ Paw Pals program.


Paw Pals, an Animal Assisted Education Program, is 100% community funded and helps children find their way back into classrooms and education. The structured student intervention was developed in 2019 and assists children and youth between the ages of 5 to 21 years to increase social confidence, develop emotional intelligence, improve behavioural management skills, increase engagement in learning activities and deliver positive learning experiences and opportunities for students who have been affected by trauma.


Since 2019 over 2,600 Paw Pals sessions have been held, helping more than 650 students across Melbourne, Geelong and Ballarat. The 2023 campaign will enable the Paw Pals team to reach more than 200 students in the year ahead.


Program founder, Sarah Castle, says “the program is reaching students in a way that teachers, on their own, cannot. It’s presenting a solution to the challenge of engaging kids who are struggling to learn in school, something that we’re seeing more and more, particularly as schools have transitioned from home-learning back into the classroom.” 

This year, through the generosity of the community – including CDF – over $285,000 has been raised to support the life-changing work of the Paw Pals team throughout Victoria.


For more information, or to donate, visit Paws4Kids.

Pictured above: The MacKillop Family Services team at CDF Melbourne head office.


“The program is reaching students in a way that teachers, on their own, cannot."


Sarah Castle, Program Founder


Pictured above: The CDF team at the Paws4Kids Matched Giving Day.


To help CDF continue to meet strong loan demand from the Catholic community, you too can put your faith in action and save for a greater reward than money alone. Not only will you earn a competitive rate of interest, but your savings will assist social services like MacKillop Family Services and other Catholic organisations to continue the work the Gospel calls on them to do. Learn more and apply today.

Share this article:

Related articles

September 9, 2026
On 27 July 2026, the small coastal town of Triabunna became the site of a significant milestone for Tasmania, with the official opening of the state's first completed Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) project , delivering 36 new social and affordable homes to a community where housing need is real and growing. For CDF, it is a moment that reflects what partnership can achieve when organisations come together around a shared commitment to serving others. A partnership built on shared purpose
September 4, 2026
At the heart of Avila College’s Mount Waverley campus, a new learning space is taking shape - one that carries six decades of educational tradition into an exciting new chapter. The St Teresa Library was formally blessed and opened in July, marking the completion of the final stage of the College’s current master plan and creating a contemporary new hub designed to support learning, connection and opportunity for generations of Avila students. Supported by a $9 million CDF loan, the project represents a significant investment in the future of this Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) secondary school for girls, which educates almost 1,100 students from Years 7 to 12. A Future Focused Heart for the College
August 25, 2026
Australians reported 481,523 scams in 2025 , with 274,577 reports involving financial losses totalling $2.18 billion . Behind those numbers are scams that are becoming increasingly difficult to spot. For organisations, one of the most convincing can begin with something as routine as an invoice. Invoice fraud is becoming increasingly sophisticated. The email may come from a supplier you know. The invoice may look exactly like previous ones. The amount is correct, the project is familiar, and the message may even sit inside a genuine email thread. The only thing that's changed is the bank account. That one change can redirect thousands of dollars into a cyber criminal's hands. How it happens Invoice fraud, also known as payment redirection fraud, is a common form of Business Email Compromise (BEC). Criminals gain access to a real email account - through phishing, stolen credentials, malware or a data breach - then quietly monitor it. They learn who approves payments, how invoicing cycles work, and wait for the right moment to intercept a genuine transaction and simply change the bank details. Because nothing else changes, it's very hard to spot. Example of What a Scam Looks Like
More

CDPF Limited, a company established by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, has indemnified the Catholic Development Fund ABN 15 274 943 760 (the Fund) against any liability arising out of a claim by investors in the Fund. In practice, this means your investment is backed by the assets of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. The Fund is required by law to make the following disclosure. Investment in the Fund is only intended to attract investors whose primary purpose for making their investment is to support the charitable purposes of the Fund. Investors’ funds will be used to generate a return to the Fund that will be applied to further the charitable works of the Archdiocese of Melbourne and the Dioceses of Sale and Bunbury. The Fund is not prudentially supervised by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority nor has it been examined or approved by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). An investor in the Fund will not receive the benefit of the financial claims scheme or the depositor protection provisions in the Banking Act 1959 (Cth). The investments that the Fund offers are not subject to the usual protections for investors under the Corporations Act (Cth) or regulation by ASIC. Investors may be unable to get some or all of their money back when the investor expects or at all and investments in the Fund are not comparable to investments with banks, finance companies or fund managers. The Fund’s identification statement may be viewed here or by contacting the Fund. The Fund does not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence.