Our Community Programs include our Refugee Hub, Community Kitchens, and Food Programs. By giving to our inaugural August Appeal, you can ensure no one is turned away and that all are welcomed and supported with food, shelter, and a smile.
Community Kitchens
Our Community Kitchens located in Taree and Forster-Tuncurry offer practical help for people in need. Since opening their doors in 2016, these Community Kitchens have served approximately 44,000 hot and nutritious meals. On average, we serve about 30 meals each day of operation, but the kitchen offers far more than a hot meal. With the assistance of volunteers, CatholicCare has created a space where people can feel safe and enjoy the company of others. The kitchen is also an opportunity for disadvantaged people to access other services via information and referral.
Food Programs
Working together with local communities to help ease the burden of homelessness and food insecurity, CatholicCare Food Programs provide hot, nutritious meals across the region. Our Food Programs support 400 people per week across Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, and Port Stephens. In the past 18 months alone, our Food Programs provided 20,500 meals to those in need across these areas.
Refugee Hub
At CatholicCare’s Refugee Hub, we support people from refugee, asylum-seeker, and vulnerable migrant backgrounds to settle into life in Australia. An average of 14 new families are referred to our service each month, with our small team currently providing active casework support to 34 families. Most families are from refugee background (mainly Syria, Congo and Afghanistan), some are asylum seekers, and a small number are migrants or temporary visa holders who are vulnerable or disadvantaged for other reasons.
Team Leader of CatholicCare's Community Programs, Mirja Colding-Moran describes the community's support as essential in providing CatholicCare's services to the many families from refugee backgrounds who face significant challenges as they rebuild their lives in Australia.
"Donations allow us to provide both practical and material support to families in need. The donations will go towards emergency relief for families in crisis as well as towards the programs we run to build people’s skills and confidence to enable them to become independent, happy and productive members of the community. Examples of these programs include English lessons, tutoring for school children, beach safety workshops and our weekly Men’s and Women’s programs," she said.
Our August Appeal
Director of CatholicCare Social Services Hunter-Manning, Gary Christensen said, "Our programs make a real difference in our local community. They provide food, social connection, pathways to support, and opportunities to learn valuable life skills to help people settle into their life in Australia. Our Community Programs help people who have nowhere else to turn."
"We can't do this work without the generosity of our local community and people like you behind us. Please consider donating to our appeal today. Every dollar counts."
You can help.
Help us feed more people in our community kitchens.
Help us support more refugees in our programs.
Help us deliver more meals to people in need.
Please give a gift to our 2021 August Appeal today. Your tax-deductible donation will go directly to our local services, and help those who need it most.
Donating is easy and only takes a few simple steps. Find out more