Community rallies behind asylum seekers with gift card donations

THE Queenscliff Rural Australians for Refugees (QRAR) gift card drive has concluded following an “overwhelming” response from the local community.

The initiative called for the donation of supermarket gift cards to help support asylum seekers living across the Geelong region, many of whom have been living here for more than 10 years but remain in visa limbo, often facing periods of unemployment, underemployment or illness.

Over the course of the drive, $4,625 in gift cards was donated, with all donations delivered on Friday to the Wesley Asylum Seeker Welcome Place Foodbank, a drop-in centre for people who are seeking asylum or have been granted temporary refugee protection.

Welcome Place co-ordinator Linda Cusworth, who helped launched the support centre almost nine years ago, said the contribution would have a “huge impact” on the people it supports.

“Our group of people who are seeking asylum, most of them don’t have any access to any Centrelink benefits, so in periods of low income or no income, they’ve got nothing.”

She said for some, the food provided by the centre is the only food they have access to each week.

“It keeps people alive.”

The centre supports, on average, 18 to 20 households with weekly food parcels and provides Geelong Food Relief vouchers and supermarket gift cards to those who need additional support, allowing them to select the foods they desire and that best meet their cultural needs.

The centre does not receive government funding and relies of the support of the community through either grocery, financial or supermarket voucher donations.

Ms Cusworth said many people in the community were unaware of the “immense struggle” faced by those still waiting to be granted a permanent visa.

“A lot of people in the community will think the problem’s been solved because some people have been transitioned from their temporary visa to their permanent visa, but there’s a lot of people that have missed out on a visa in a system that’s flawed and unfair – it was set up that way.

“They’re the people that we see most regularly. They’re the ones that still need a resolution; they still need an outcome.

“We know the stories; it’s not safe for people to return to their homeland, so that’s why we’re operating, to keep them supported until hopefully they get a permanent visa themselves one day.

“They’re really resilient people who would make great citizens given the chance.”

Gift card drive organiser, QRAR’s Sandra Nowland-Foreman, said she was thrilled with the community’s “heart-warming response” to the initiative and thanked all who contributed, including the members of the Springdale Neighbourhood Centre who hosted a morning tea to support the fundraiser.

“It really reinforces that there is a strong, compassionate heart in the community [and] a lot of care and a lot of concern about what’s happening in the world.”

To learn more about the Welcome Place, or to make a donation to the centre, head to wesleychurchgeelong.net/asylum-seekers