Food insecurity and hunger are very real problems facing refugees and asylum seekers in Australia. The Food Bank service at RISE has been running since 2011, and the number of people who have accessed this service has increased much faster than anticipated. At present we have over 2700 asylum seekers and refugees registered for RISE’s support services and most of them are in community detention or are asylum seekers who are on bridging visas in need of food and shelter.
Many of the RISE members have been released to the community through the community-based detention scheme and do not have the right to work or access government support services. Our members therefore risk falling through the cracks of the system to the point that they cannot afford basic food and are left in a perilous state.
The RISE Food Bank aims to address the initial critical needs of refugees and asylum seekers within our community by providing access to free dry food and fruits and vegetables.
In order to reach our goal to provide our community with access to food, we are calling for donations of food items to be donated to the RISE food bank.
Food items that we urgently need include:
Further you can donate toiletries to our drop-in centre including :
In order to donate, please drop off items at our office: Level 1, 247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne and contact admin@riserefugee.org.
You can also donate funds to help us purchase food items by clicking here. Be sure to let us know that you would like your donation used for the Food Bank by selecting the ‘Special Message’ option and indicating so in your message to us.