Emergency Relief – Supporting Communities When They Need it the Most

Society members have been delivering emergency relief to people in need for many years. Our positive track record in doing this efficiently and effectively means that the Commonwealth now comes to us when disaster strikes, and they want to quickly distribute additional emergency relief.

Over the last few years, members, volunteers, and employees have all played a role in supporting people in communities affected by natural disasters, including drought, fire, and flood.

Much of the immediate assistance we provided to fire-affected communities in 2019 – 2020 was in the form of emergency cash payments to impacted households. Almost three years later, communities are still recovering and there is yet more to be done to support the recovery effort.

We were also there during the recent flood disaster in Northern NSW, providing whatever assistance we could. Members, volunteers, and employees travelled from other parts of the state to help, not only because of the scale of the disaster, but because many of our own people were directly impacted. Again, the government sought us out to provide emergency payments.

We are consistently there when people need us, whether they are experiencing hardship because of a natural disaster, or are in need because of poverty and disadvantage.

The Society’s 2023 budget includes $2.2 million of Emergency Relief Funding from the Commonwealth. While this is only a slight increase on the 2022 budget and due mainly to annual CPI/Indexation on funding, our ongoing efforts to improve our data collection and reporting capacity will see us well-placed to grow government funding in the coming years.

In addition to funding from the Commonwealth, we expect to provide a further $9.3 million in assistance next financial year. Funds will be raised by the Society through our own fundraising efforts, contribution from our shops, and other income-generating activities.

Overall, we are well-placed to continue to be there for anyone who needs a bit of a hand up.

 

(Visited 201 times, 1 visits today)