Help people sleep safely tonight

Many people seeking asylum in Australia don’t know where they will be sleeping tonight.

In a year when critical government-funded services continued to be reduced, the ASRC have seen significant increases in the number of people knocking on our door, finding themselves in desperate situations, in need of emergency assistance.

With next to nothing, those already most vulnerable in our community arrive needing either a safe place to sleep for the night, access to important medical care or simply needing a warm meal and food staples for a few days. For those at risk of illness, hunger and destitution, the ASRC is their last hope and it’s our GAP team who are there to lend a hand and respond to meet people’s most critical and immediate needs.

Our General Access Program (GAP) is the first line of defense and support when someone seeking safety arrives on our doorstep. But with increased demand and limited resources, our GAP service is at breaking point. The situation for our front line caseworkers is dire as they are forced to make desperate and distressing decisions that leave them with no other choice than to provide sleeping bags to families when emergency housing is simply not available. And with winter in full force, these decisions are heartbreaking and never taken lightly.

We recently interviewed Lauren who manages GAP to share the struggles her team are facing with the cuts to vital Government support services and the greater struggles faced by the people in her team who are providing critical help to people seeking asylum.

“The majority of people we are seeing at the moment are mothers and fathers, stressed out that they don’t know how they are going to avoid sleeping on the street with their children. It’s really awful.”

Watch the full interview with Lauren below.

This year alone, the ASRC has spent over $700,000 on providing nights of safe housing for those who simply cannot afford it. We have cooked for close to 20,000 people through our community meals program and our health clinic nurses have treated more than 210 patients.

But we need the continued support of the community and generous donors to help us continue our work. A donation as small as $15 can help provide a night of accommodation.

It’s the ongoing support of the community that makes so much of what happens at the ASRC possible. We couldn’t be there to help, if we didn’t have your support. Thank you.

Donate now and help us to provide the safety net that people seeking asylum need to rebuild their lives.