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As we end the year and celebrate Human Rights Day this month, we are taking time to reflect. It is with enormous gratitude that I celebrate the contribution of our community of supporters. Your donations, advocacy, community connections and partnerships bring joy to people seeking asylum all year.
Many people are finding it harder to make ends meet and feeling the stress of the continuing pandemic. If that’s the case for your family, we hope things improve very soon.
Recent increases in the costs of everyday basics have made life impossible for many people seeking asylum who live with the uncertainty of a temporary visa.
While there is no income safety net, there’s nowhere else to turn other than charities such as the Asylum Seekers Centre.
Meanwhile, rising expenses have affected community organisations too. The cost of paying for a bed in an emergency hostel for the night has tripled in recent months. The amount we provide in living assistance was no longer enough to buy food and so we have increased it.
Thank you to everyone who has donated to support people seeking asylum this year. Every gift, no matter the size, helps. You can still donate to our festive appeal online at our donation page.
The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) recently released its 2022 Australian Community Sector Survey and found that ‘few services have been able to consistently meet demand this year…” The survey shows that complexity of issues and cost of living pressure is affecting all community services.
However, the Asylum Seekers Centre will apply our values of compassion and innovation to continue finding ways to meet the challenge. Every day we find moments of joy in our community to celebrate. Please read on to share some of the moments, nominated by our community, that brought a smile during the year.
Warm regards
Frances Rush OAM
Chief Executive Officer
#MomentsofJoy
It was a difficult year for many, but there were plenty of roses among the thorns. We’ve asked the ASC community to share their Moments of Joy in 2022. From the launch of Family Day to rural fundraising efforts, this is what they chose.
Give your old phone a Christmas reboot
You can double the value of a device given this Christmas by passing on your old phone to the Asylum Seekers Centre. Donated phones can be refurbished and donated to a person seeking asylum to help them study, look for work, contact family and deal with government agencies and organisations.
Are you a part of the ASC’s history?
In 2023 the Asylum Seekers Centre is turning 30! We will be celebrating all year, and we are starting our year with a reunion of our ASC community on Saturday 4 March. Get together with friends to share stories and memories. Or get in touch if you’d like to be involved in the 30th anniversary in another way.
Save the date for our Gather Reunion.
Return and Earn for people seeking asylum
Did you know that most drink containers between 150ml and 3L get a 10-cent refund at Return and Earn machines around Sydney? Now, in an exciting update to the program, you can donate to the ASC at any of the +350 Return and Earn machines in NSW by using a new app.
