We are currently honouring Refugee Week – Australia’s peak annual activity to raise awareness about the issues affecting refugees and to celebrate the positive contributions made by refugees to Australian society.
Many organisations that the Give Where You Live Foundation support work with refugees, providing support services and a means for refugees to connect with their communities. However, for two of these organisations, work with refugees lies at the heart of all they do.
The first of which is Diversitat, a not-fot-profit charitable community organization that supports multi-cultural communities and vulnerable people in the region with a goal to empower individuals and communities to allow them to reach their full potential. Diversitat does this through settlement services, community programs for multi-cultural communities, financial counselling, training and education as well as a number of other services. Diversitat also celebrates the diversity of our community within the annual Pako Festa, the largest celebration of cultural diversity in Victoria.
The second is The Welcome Place, a support organization for asylum seekers and refugees struggling with opportunities for employment, education and separation from loved ones. The Welcome Place provides a network and a sense of community to help those new to our country connect with their local community. The Welcome Place demonstrates a microcosm of the ‘way the world should be’ with people of various people groups, nationalities and religions sharing food, culture, conversation, activities and laughter together.
This Refugee week we salute Diversitat, The Welcome Place, the organisations that work with refugees and refugees themselves for making our community a better, richer place.