Help Fawkner Community House Emergency Relief Fund
‘A single act of caring creates an endless ripple’. Join us in making a difference.
Help Fawkner Community House
Urgent Appeal for Donations for our Emergency Relief Program
How You Can Help Us
Please make a donation today and help us to provide the basic necessities to people who would otherwise go hungry and cold over the coming winter.
- $25 will provide a Myki card for a student to get to school.
- $40 will provide a food parcel for a family of 2 adults and 3 children comprising: 1kg rice, 1kg flour, 1kg sugar, 400 grams of lentils, 1 dozen eggs, 2 litres of milk, 2 tins of tomatoes, 1 loaf of bread and 5 kgs of fresh fruit and vegetables.
- $100 will provide winter clothes and shoes to a for a child whose family has no income.
- $250 will provide winter bedding to a newly arrived Syrian refugee family.
- $500 will provide a fridge to a newly arrived Syrian refugee family.
Fawkner Community House is a tax deductible charity and all donations $2 and over are tax deductible.
About our Community House
Fawkner Community House is a vibrant, exciting community centre that works with the most disadvantaged low-income communities across the north of Melbourne.
We offer a safe and welcoming space for newly arrived refugees from the war in Syria; Rohingya asylum seekers from Myanmar; newly arrived migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India who are living without Medicare or income support, or who are working, but massively underpaid. We also work with other groups living in poverty: aged and disability pensioners, unemployed residents and single parents.
We welcome and respond to the needs of everyone who comes through our door with the generous support of a few large food and material aid (clothing, bedding, furniture) donors and many local residents who give what they can with all their heart.
Our Current Crisis
But we need more support urgently. Our material aid (clothes, bedding, furniture) and food relief program receives no funding and, unfortunately, this year one of our main food donors has substantially reduced their food donation. The nearest other food bank to our centre has recently closed and we are the only food bank in a highly disadvantaged community of about 30 square kilometres.
The number of people needing help keeps growing and we just do not have the resources anymore to help everyone who needs it. Recently the situation has become so desperate that people, who have nothing to eat, have physically fought over food parcels when our supplies are running low. The need is so great that our food supplies are exhausted within 30 minutes of food bank opening its doors.
The weather is getting colder and many in our community do not have warm clothes, bedding or enough to eat. In order to offer food aid and material support to those who do not have enough to survive, we urgently need donations so we can continue to support those who need it by providing: food, clothing, bedding, furniture, meals, kitchen equipment, English language classes, vocational education, crisis counselling and job search support.
What We Do
Fawkner Community House provides food parcels to approximately 1,000 local residents every week through our food bank. The need for food, particularly among newly arrived Syrian refugees, sole parents, aged and disability pensioners and the unemployed keeps growing and we currently have about 850 people on our waiting list that we are unable to give food to.
In the last 6 months we have provided bedding, clothes and furnished the houses of over 200 Syrian refugee families on arrival in Australia from overseas refugee camps. The number of new Syrian refugee families is growing and we have up to 5 new families a week needing our support.
We also help other local residents with material aid and support – single parents, aged and disability pensioners, unemployed residents, new migrants who have no income and workers experiencing wage theft.
We have helped newly arrived migrant and asylum seeker families to enrol their children in schools and assist families with financial assistance to pay for their children’s books, uniforms and other school requirements. We also assist new arrivals to access other services.
Most of this support work, including interpreting, is provided by volunteers at Fawkner Community House. Many of our volunteers are migrants and refugees and understand how hard it is to settle into a new country and what it is like to have nothing.
How Can You Help Us?
Please make a donation today. Your donation, no matter how small, will make a world of difference to those in our community who are at serious risk of destitution. We are very grateful for your support.
As stated above, Fawkner Community House is a tax deductible charity and all donations $2 and over are tax deductible.
Fundraising team: Fawkner Community House fundraising campaign (3)
Meredith Lawrence
Organizer
Fawkner VIC
Fawkner Community House Inc.
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically tax deductible in Australia.
Ashvak Mohamed
Team member
Sana Sunasara
Team member
