Defending Hope: How Health and Food Security Restore Dignity at ASRC

Every day at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), we see how safety begins in the small things: a warm meal, familiar staples, the right medication, a conversation in one’s own language or a door opened to someone with nowhere to go. These are all foundations that help people seeking asylum rebuild their confidence and begin to imagine a future.

Your support helps make these moments of safety possible.

Two of ASRC’s essential services that help make this possible are our Health Program and our Foodbank. They are lifelines for people who arrive with nothing but determination and hope that they might finally find a break and some breathing space. 

Ali* is one of the many people whose life has been changed through this support. Persecuted in Afghanistan, he arrived in Australia by boat in 2012. Two years ago, his world was upended when he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. With no Medicare and no right to work, he faced his illness without even the most basic safety net. Extreme headaches, visual disturbances and weight loss made daily life frighteningly unpredictable. 

Our health team stepped in to provide Ali with regular GP access, counselling, nursing checks and medication – vital care he could not obtain elsewhere. Alongside this, our leadership and health staff advocated relentlessly for him, writing to MPs and the Federal Immigration Minister. Finally, after months of advocacy and 13 years of distress and uncertainty, Ali was granted a permanent protection visa. It brought not only legal safety, but a measure of peace in the face of a devastating diagnosis.

You can help ensure others receive this life-changing support by making a donation today.

Another family finding steady ground is the one of Abdul and Amira*, who fled Gaza with their four young children and elderly mother. Arriving in Australia in 2024 with no work rights and no income support, they were initially supported by family in Melbourne and PARA (Palestine Australia Relief and Action), who quickly connected them to the ASRC.

Here, they were welcomed and provided with Foodbank access, nappies, Myki cards, legal support and advice on how to apply for a Protection visa, Medicare and other support services. Our health team ensured their immunisations were up to date and Abdul’s mother received required medication through an emergency pharmacy waiver. 

Today, the children are settling into school and the family continues to access our Foodbank for culturally familiar staples – lentils, chickpeas, oil and spice, ingredients that help them cook the dishes they love and that connect them to home, like Musakhan and Maqluba.

Your donation today helps keep our essential frontline programs like our Health Program and Foodbank running for people who need to find a second home.

Abdul and Amira’s story echoes that of more than 750 individuals from almost 200 households displaced from Gaza who have been supported by the ASRC. Beyond essential groceries, the Foodbank has become a place of belonging – a space where people speak their language, meet others who share their journey and keep a connection to their culture and traditions. As one community member put it:

I feel like I’m in my second home. I feel I’m loved. I feel the love and respect here. We can get food like chickpeas, lentils, oil and make Palestinian dishes that we love, like Musakhan, Maqluba, Sumakiyyah.

As demand grows and more families arrive seeking protection, the ASRC remains committed to being a reliable, welcoming place where no one is left to struggle alone – a home of welcome and justice. Your support is the reason thousands of families will end the year with safety, dignity and a warm meal.

If you are in a position to give, please consider making a donation before the year ends. Together, we can continue to offer safety and nourishment. Together, we defend hope.

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of people seeking asylum.