By Mikayla van Loon
With Christmas fast approaching, family services organisation Anchor is asking for donations to help provide some of the most basic essentials to those who need it most.
The not-for-profit is aiming to raise $50,000 to support people like Rebecca, a Sudanese refugee and mother of 10 living in the outer eastern suburbs who couldn’t afford to buy enough shoes for her children.
“With Rebecca, we were able to buy shoes for most of the family. Before that they were sharing eight pairs of shoes between eleven of them,” Anchor CEO Heidi Tucker said.
“Some of the kids couldn’t go to school some days and some kids were using much bigger shoes than appropriate. So I dug into some of our reserve funds and just said, ‘please buy all the children shoes’.”
As an organisation that relies on donations and sponsorships, Ms Tucker said fundraisers like this Christmas campaign allows the team to have access to untied funds for emergency purposes or circumstances like Rebecca’s.
Having been born in Sudan just prior to the civil war, Rebecca grew up in a time dominated by violence, sexual abuse and sadness.
Now living safely in a suburb of Melbourne, she still has a lot of trauma to work through but with Anchor’s support she has been able to provide a home for her children and start on a path to healing.
“I have had a lot of bad things happen to me…if I didn’t have my children, I would not be alive…good people like you are holding my heart so that I can survive,” Rebecca said.
For case workers and for Ms Tucker, Rebecca’s story is just one of many and with the recent cost of living increases, it’s expected to get worse.
“My fear is we’ll see many more of these families who are struggling…and already we’re hearing of families who are skipping meals and things like that because they can’t afford it.
“In January we expect a bit of a rush of families coming through trying to prepare for the new school year, maybe not having enough for uniforms or books and struggling a bit to pay rent as well as other expenses.”
Having the flexibility to be able to pay for a school uniform or buy a family a fresh meal to celebrate Christmas Ms Tucker said means the world to people going through a hard financial, emotional or social time.
“Sometimes it can be as little as $20, sometimes it can be as much as a couple of $1,000. So it can be really varied and we feel if we can raise $50,000 we’ll be able to spread that money across many families, probably many more than 50 families.”
Ms Tucker said for the families who may receive food or money or the purchasing of essential items, it makes them feel like someone cares.
“What it does is it verifies for them that people care because a lot of people who are disadvantaged feel very invisible and no one really cares,” she said.
As a recipient of this care and support from the community, Rebecca now encourages her children to give back in the future.
“I tell my kids to be social workers, be doctors, work in aged care — I want them to support the community, the way the community has supported us.”
Continuing to support Rebecca through the next stages of her life and healing, Ms Tucker said it shows how a little bit of love, kindness, understanding and guidance can change someone’s life.
“The thing with Rebecca is that our work also gives the kids hope and gives all of those children much more stability and like many other migrants to Australia, you just give them a chance, and they will give back to Australia.
“It’s just that little opening, that little bit of help that can mean all the difference for people and all the difference for their future lives. That’s the other thing I’m very rewarded and proud of is the difference we’ve also made to the whole family’s trajectory.”
To help support Anchor in supporting others, donate via give.anchor.org.au or buy a chocolate hamper for someone else.
