As part of our response to the unfolding COVID-19 crisis, we are supporting community organisations across Australia through our National Crisis Response Fund.
In late April, we distributed the Fund’s first three grants to some of the communities most in need of our support at this time: LGBTIQ+ people seeking support, remote Indigenous communities, and women exiting prison. With continued support from our giving community and the public, we are now distributing two grants of $10,000 to Refugee Legal and the Wungening Aboriginal Corporation.
Refugee Legal $10,000
Family Violence and Migration Law Project
Refugee Legal’s Family Violence and Migration Law Project is focussed on being responsive to women experiencing family violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Women who seek help are experiencing increased isolation from family, friends and other supports.
Many of these women are trapped in their home with abusive partners and fear further violence or danger.
All of these women express a desperate need for information about their migration options and how they can remain safely in Australia.
Funding is to be used specifically for the provision of legal advice and assistance to women on temporary visas or without visas who are experiencing family violence and face significant barriers to navigating and accessing migration law advice during COVID-19.
Wungening Aboriginal Corporation $10,000
COVID-19 Food Appeal
Wungening Aboriginal Corporation’s COVID-19 Food Appeal seeks to support 18 Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) across Perth and SW Western Australia.
Funding will be used to purchase 200 food/basic supplies hampers for distribution across the 18 ACCOs, which have identified thousands of Aboriginal clients who are not presently serviced, or adequately serviced, by other not-for-profits or the broader government welfare system.
Regular food and hygiene parcels are likely to be needed for these clients, which in turn will support their families.
Wungening is also working with traditional food charities such as Foodbank WA, Secondbite (Perth) and OzHarvest (Perth), and with hygiene product wholesalers, to ensure as many people as possible can be supported.