By Matthew Sims
Some of the highlights from across the year of people and organisations providing support to those in need are as follows.
Have Hope Inc
A Pakenham mother’s little way of spreading hope grew beyond the confines of her home to a brand new warehouse space.
Have Hope Inc, previously Have a Little Hope, was founded by Bobo Davis after her son suicided in 2016.
For the last seven years, she ran the volunteer community outreach service from her home.
Now, thanks to a donation by Lisa Boyd of Horses for Causes, the organisation moved into a new home in Pakenham’s South East Business Park in April.
Ms Davis said it was a great feeling to now have a new larger home for the organisation.
“Now we have this space, we can offer more supports,” she said.
“Food is a support that we do, but we now have the ability and the facility to offer other supports in the future.”
The organisation, which now has not-for-profit status, aims to advance community welfare by providing food, goods and emotional support to those who are suffering the effects of suicide, hardship and trauma.
Volunteers assist with relieving people’s immediate distress, mental grief and needs due to their loss and suffering, until they can navigate a more purposeful pathway.
At the new location, the organisation can provide food staples, emotional support and support groups.
The organisation has continued to support about 400 people per week across 45 deliveries, including outreach and out of their Pakenham warehouse each Friday, in addition to emotional support.
Living Learning Pakenham
Speaking to the Gazette in March, Living Learning Pakenham (LLP) community engagement manager Glenda George said its focus was on co-ordinating with the multicultural communities to work out how to support them
“There are very little services out here for those communities,” she said.
“We’d like to see more projects to support them.”
During the Covid pandemic, LLP ran a food pack program to support the multicultural community.
“We’re seeing that need continue with the increase in rental costs and higher mortgages,“ Ms George said.
“A lot of people on temporary visas need that support.
“We’d welcome funding to continue that food pack program.”
LLP provides training, education and skill development and delivers programs and activities promoting participation and inclusion – from English language classes to safe driving, home-based small business courses, money management programs and a beautiful community garden.
Salvos
Long-time Cardinia Shire councillor Brett Owen was endorsed as Pakenham’s Red Shield Appeal ambassador in April.
The Red Shield Appeal is The Salvation Army’s main source of philanthropic income for its social services and outreach programs.
Mr Owen said the shire’s already strong relationship with the Salvation Army made stepping in as ambassador a no-brainer.
“I saw it was a really good fit for me to do my bit to assist the Salvation Army’s Red Shield Appeal,” Cr Owen told the Gazette.
“I want to help raise awareness of the appeal locally and encourage our community to donate to the appeal so the Pakenham Salvation Army can continue to support and help our community.”
Mr Owen said he was honoured to be involved in the campaign, which will see every dollar raised in Cardinia, stay in Cardinia.
The Salvation Army got involved later in the year with the Pakenham Motorcycle Riders group inaugural ‘Toy Run’ event in Pakenham, with all donations of toys and non-perishable food going to locals in need this Christmas.
CNCISS
The Casey North Community Information and Support Service was so snowed under with emergency relief and crisis support in July that it was considering “cancelling Christmas”.
In an open letter sent to the Gazette, CNCISS executive officer Helen Small said pressure on the charity group was so intense that the Christmas program was in doubt.
“In previous years, we have helped over 200 families with Christmas food hampers and presents for the children,” Ms Small explained in the letter.
“While the goods we distribute are donated, the coordination and giving falls to paid staff and volunteers who are diverted from their usual emergency relief or crisis support roles to provide this service – we cannot afford to do that this year.
“Compounding all the above is the reduction in assistance we can levy from our community service partners and philanthropic trusts, all of whom face the same increase in demand and the same reduction in the real value of the funding they receive and supports they usually offer.”
ADRA
Emergency food relief provider Adventist Development and Relief Agency continue to provide a weekly hot meal service, pantry service and crisis relief packs to Cardinia residents from Pakenham’s Lakeside.
The organisation’s Victorian director Rebecca Auriant said the organisation saw a 30 per cent increase in demand over the first six months of the year.
“Initially we were seeing about 20 families on a Thursday night, now we’re seeing more like 30 families, plus we’re increasing our deliveries on the Friday to around 50 families, which used to be around 30,” she said.
“We’ve seen a particular increase in the working poor, as well as more people who are facing domestic and family violence and also more people who have become homeless.”
Most well known for their bus outreach program which is parked out the front of the Pakenham Library every Thursday, they also provided all sorts of support from food and clothing books to blankets this year.
Cardinia Foundation
The Cardinia Foundation announced the launch of a new funding program to address the rising issue of food insecurity in Cardinia Shire in June.
The Food Support Fund would exist in addition to the foundation’s annual community grants program, which supports charity projects in a range of fields including education, health and wellbeing, social cohesion, the environment and the arts.
Cardinia Foundation chief executive Kara Norton-Jones said the organisation has set a fundraising goal of $100,000 to put towards the food fund.
“We can obviously see there’s a growth in charities needing that support, so we feel like we can help there and this is what that all started from,” she said.
On top of its Community Grants Program, the Cardinia Foundation also delivered a number of grants as part of its latest round of Christmas grants, including to ECHO Youth and Family Services, ADRA WAYSS and Experience Life.
Peninsula Community Legal Centre
A housing affordability crisis, a housing availability crisis and a cost of living crisis, along with the interest rate increases, came together to create a nightmare situation, according to Peninsula Community Legal Centre (PCLC) tenant co-ordinator Catherine Currie.
“Renters are in the frontline of the cost of living crisis; more and more are being pushed into homelessness because they are unable to find a rental,” she said.
“They can be lodging up to 100 applications and having absolutely no success and the difficulty with that is they don’t know why they are missing out.
“There are just so many people applying for them that the rental provider will just pick the cream of the crop.”
Speaking to the Gazette in March, Ms Currie said in Cardinia 8800 households were in private rentals and out of those, about 30 per cent were in rental stress.
South East Community Links
South East Community Links (SECL) has provided ongoing support to the South East, with the fourth Bring your Bills day for the year held in Pakenham in November.
The event included representatives from a range of financial support organisations and community groups, such as the Energy and Water Ombudsman, Fines Victoria, ECHO Youth and Family Services and the Peninsula Community Legal Centre.
The event focused on providing advice and help for those who have been struggling financially, including providing advice on utility bills and personal debts, with about 100 attendees seeking support.
SECL head of financial wellbeing Kay Dilger said the response from the community had been positive.
“We’re just trying to make talking about money normal,” she said.
“Very few people have not been impacted by the cost of living crisis.
“They can get the information on their financial rights and options directly.”
