Melina’s networking program Gals Doin’ Good has given participants creative hands-on opportunities to help others while meeting like-minded contacts.

The formation of partnerships with other charities and other programs, such as her Connecting the Community series, have raised funds and awareness for the likes of a Midwife on a Motorbike in Timor Leste and for sexual and reproductive health packs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.  

Melina has provided support to international communities following disasters. This includes the Christchurch earthquake and cyclones in Fiji.

As a contribution to the Feed Melbourne campaigns, Melina organised her largest single’s events three years in a row. Each had up to 250 participants, who cooked up to 12,000 meals for hungry and homeless in Melbourne. On one of those nights, 152 singles ‘matched’ (with similar results on the other nights). People have got married and had children as a result of meeting at these events. In addition, around $30,000 was donated to the ongoing support of Feed Melbourne. She also ran a Feed Sydney Cooking for a Cause event.  

The Pencil Case Project – providing handsewn pencil cases filled with new school supplies to several thousand children in foster care, in hospitals, refuges, seeking asylum and facing other challenges.  

As a committee member of the Royal Melbourne Hospital Dialysis Support Group for 10 years, Melina helped to raise more than $500 000 to support people awaiting lifesaving kidney transplants. 

Melina has also given her time to speak to countless groups including schools, local councils, business gatherings, conferences and more to help inspire others to make a difference.  

Through the CEO Sleepout in Australia and New Zealand Big Sleepout, Melina has proudly slept out eight times in three cities across two countries to raise awareness and funds for homeless issues.  

Melina spent 18 months collecting and writing stories Black Saturday bushfire stories from the Traralgon South region for Beneath Dark Skies. Motivated by what she heard and saw, she also ran many events in Melbourne to connect the two communities and provide ongoing support (in addition to support of the Kinglake region and beyond).  

Melina’s first major pro bono project in Australia was for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Australia. She developed and ran the Shirt-Off-Your-Back national fundraising and awareness campaign for Australian children with life-threatening illnesses. The campaign involved securing signed shirts from 100 key Australian celebrities, designing and managing the entire campaign, speaking on national television, producing television and radio commercials, organising the launch and securing national publicity. 

A special ongoing endeavour has seen Melina donate her time to mentor young people, many who achieved great outcomes.  

The random acts of m.a.d. (making a difference) program has seen Melina and others perform thousands of random acts of kindness without any expectation of anything in return.  

More than 80,000 meals were cooked through m.a.d.woman Cooking for a Cause projects for some of Melbourne and Sydney’s homeless and hungriest people in partnerships that involved food rescued and made into nutritious meals instead of being put into landfill.

The Gardening for Good program has included regeneration of garden beds at a special community garden for disadvantaged and disabled youth, creation of a sensory garden for residents at a hospital unit for people with acquired brain injuries and tree-planting projects.

Many and varied Christmas for a Cause projects have provided treats and dignity to tens of thousands of people facing disadvantage during the festive season – often a time when it’s hard for people doing it tough to find things to smile about. 

For more than a decade, Melina has mentored young people, including her m.a.d. kid ambassadors, to support the community – in particular the Pencil Case Project.

The Declutter for a Cause campaign has given people tips to clear clutter, gain space and ideas for where to give goods to people who could really use them.  

Working with a talented and dedicated bunch of volunteers, Melina has made gorgeous bibs and burp cloths for babies in disadvantaged families. 

Over a number of years, Melina has organised and facilitated makeovers at the premises of some special charities.

Melina organised a team to do a refresh in the waiting room for a major hospital ICU unit, including setting up a library.  

The ongoing Pages with Purpose program supports projects for people facing challenges. 

Grateful in April is Melina’s free global initiative to get people focused on noticing and feeling good about what they’ve already got in their lives. 

Melina’s Single Volunteers events began as a one-off social experiment in Melbourne for her to find a boyfriend. Through word of mouth and media coverage, this expanded to events for singles, women networking, general networking and businesses events run nationally and internationally.  

Melina created her own m.a.d.woman foundation (unfortunately closing during Covid) to support tens and tens of thousands of Australians facing challenges.

As an act of making a difference, Melina donated her car to Kids Under Cover to support youth. The car had driven Hollywood celebrity Harry Shearer, the voice of Montgomery Burns and others on The Simpsons.

General m.a.d. events have created awareness within the community and led the way in demonstrating how people can put back into society.