Support RISE to buy a Food Bank Delivery Truck
Help RISE get a delivery truck to deliver urgent ongoing Food Bank items to eX-detainees, Asylum Seekers and Refugees.
Since the creation of the RISE COVID-19 'door-to-door' Emergency Relief Drive Program earlier this year, RISE has provided close to 9 tonnes of food and household items to hundreds of members every week - all done by volunteers using personal cars.
What we’re asking for:
RISE members need our Food Bank delivery service to survive - and our Food Bank has no delivery vehicle. So that we can reach our RISE members and not rely on volunteer’s vehicles, we are asking for your help to purchase a refrigerated truck. As well as increasing our capacity and improving the reliability of our program, this will also mean that we can:
- Be more time efficient in delivering critical essentials to RISE members and families.
- Store meat, fresh fruits and vegetables safely and for longer.
- Increase food storage capacity.
- Be able to fill the gaps left by other “agencies” by directly responding to the needs of our members.
What’s the issue?
RISE members need our Food Bank delivery service to survive - and our Food Bank has no delivery vehicle.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 lock-down in March 2020, the RISE team has been working very hard to set up and maintain the RISE COVID-19 Emergency 'door to door' Relief Drive, which was built on the foundation of the RISE Food Bank. This service delivers urgent relief packages directly to members’ houses and ensures our members have access to the basics whilst minimising the risk of being exposed to COVID-19. Our members live in all areas of ‘Melbourne’ (Victoria), with many living over 1 hour bus-and-train ride away from our RISE Food Bank drop-in centre. Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions and people being unable to travel more than 5kms from their home, many RISE members who need access to our RISE Food Bank are going without their daily essentials.
Hunger, poverty and the lack of access to basics is an issue frequently faced by eX-detainees and Asylum seekers in Australia. As the government decreases support to eX-detainees and Asylum seekers and pushes our community members into poverty, our members’ demands for our RISE Foodbank program has increased significantly since RISE was launched in 2010. Add to this is the ongoing struggles faced by eX-detainees due to systemic discrimination, coupled with the reality of saviour organisations taking government money in the name of “Asylum seekers and Refugees” without providing proper support to our community members, has left our members in dire need of support - from grassroots organisations with ‘boots on the ground’ and strong community connections.
What we’re doing:
We have been entirely reliant on vehicles from our volunteers to provide Food Bank delivery services to our members, which is something we appreciate from our volunteers. However, there are a few issues with relying on our volunteers’ vehicles. These include:
- The lack of space in the vehicle due to most volunteers only have access to small vehicles
- Times where we have to deliver care packages multiple times to the same area due to the lack of space in the vehicles used for delivery
- Overall inefficiency in the program
Who are we:
RISE: Refugees, Survivors and eX-detainees is the first and only refugee and asylum seeker welfare and advocacy organisation in Australia, entirely governed by refugees, asylum seekers, and eX-detainees. As such, we view those who seek assistance from RISE as members, not clients.
RISE is beyond a charity- it is about the self-determination of eX-detainees, Asylum seekers and Refugees that we are proud of and continue to do so.
What do we do at RISE?
- Projects and campaigns run to advance our voices, independence and dignity
- We run projects and campaigns that support our members’ long term sustainability
- We run over 10 projects within the Advocacy, Settlement Support and Arts portfolios
Our projects, campaigns and services are managed, developed and run by people from eX-detainee, Refugee and Asylum seeker backgrounds who have first-hand experience of settling in and outside Australia.
RISE represents over 30 Refugee community groups in Australia and runs campaigns on behalf of its members, provides welfare and advocacy services, educational programs and workshops throughout the year.
We eX-detainees work on long term structural changes to support our freedom and self-determination. This fundraiser is endorsed and approved by RISE board of directors 9th September 2020.
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