ALUMNI UPDATE: Asylum Seekers Centre – how we can help

• Home
• •
• ALUMNI UPDATE: Asylum Seekers Centre – how we can help

So many people and charities have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we highlight one of our charity alumni, Asylum Seekers Centre (ASC), and how we can help.

Helene Do, ASC’s Head of Philanthropy and Partnerships, recently explained to us how the people seeking asylum have been left out of the government’s safety net and are doing it tough during the pandemic.

On March 23, ASC had to stop the drop-in service at its centre in Newtown due to the COVID-19 social distancing requirements. Calls to the hotline tripled that day, as anxious people called to ask for help. Many people who have been previously independent have lost their jobs and had to return to ask ASC for help with food and accommodation. They had heard about the government’s JobSeeker and JobKeeper packages and wanted to know what help they could access.

Meanwhile, the way the ASC provides services and support has had to completely change. Many of the ASC’s 400 volunteers are no longer able to assist. Many are now set up working from home, new volunteers have been recruited and some volunteers are working in the new mobile foodbank service the centre had two weeks to create.

A key focus of the ASC’s work is employment support. Most of the people seeking asylum they assist have visas that allow them to work in Australia while their claim for protection is being assessed. Even before the pandemic, most people seeking asylum did not have access to Centrelink benefits, so employment is the only way they can survive. Now faced with unemployment, they find themselves ineligible for a Centrelink safety net.

ASC is reimagining all its services to provide new ways to continue to support people seeking asylum:

1. Food deliveries and provisions: hundreds of people a week are receiving a home delivery service of basic groceries and toiletries. This number is growing each week as the pandemic is hitting harder and the service is finding delivery improvements. Pairs of volunteers in their own cars, deliver basic food provisions and toiletries
2. Accommodation: emergency accommodation is available for a small amount of people and others are assisted to find suitable crisis accommodation to avoid homelessness
3. Help negotiating with landlords: caseworkers provide support and mentoring so that people know their rights and are represented with landlords and real estate agents
4. Health clinic: the clinic is open five days a week for appointments with nurses and doctors, telehealth appointments and soon, a flu vaccination clinic
5. Help keeping lines of communications open: providing mobile phones/ipads/computers and mobile plans. It is particularly important in these times for people to stay connected to services, for children to be able to access education and for digital connection to be available.

If you are interested and able to help out, this is how:

1. Donate money or organise a community fundraiser
2. Donate food, groceries and basics – a ‘most needed’ list is updated on their website daily or you can donate grocery vouchers
3. Donate your old devices so they can be refurbished and distributed
4. Volunteer – volunteers are still being recruited and some positions still available
5. Provide any form of work/employment opportunity – if you can offer a job, or know someone who can, to very qualified job candidates, please call 02 9078 1900 or email employment@asylumseekerscentre.org.au

For more information visit Asylum Seekers Centre website or follow the ASC on Facebook.