Dear friends and supporters,

We hope you and your family are well and safe and we thank you for your ongoing and valued support and accompaniment in our mission. The end of the financial year is an important time for you and for our sisters and brothers that JRS Australia serves. Your generosity and compassion is deeply impactful, allowing JRS to accompany refugees and people seeking asylum in our community and support them in overcoming barriers to access their rights.

Meet Sara, husband Dani and their 3-year-old daughter*

Sara first contacted JRS Australia hoping for assistance with food. Sara was living with her husband Dani and their 3-year-old daughter and was one month away from giving birth to their second child. As Sara spoke to the JRS Australia team, it was evident that the family did not have enough money to buy the food and urgent medicine they needed. Dani and their child were sleeping on the floor in the room they rented as they did not have suitable furniture.

Dani had been working full-time as a cleaner but like so many other people in Australia, due to COVID-19, he had lost his job. He has since been looking for work but has had difficulty in facing this task alone. The family rental arrears were growing and Sara and her family had to choose between paying for her pregnancy check ups or paying rent. The family had also amassed loans from friends who had been assisting them to pay rent. Despite all efforts made by the family to keep a safe roof over their heads, they were evicted from their shared accommodation and forced into homelessness.

Like any new mother, Sara wished to have a safe place to welcome her newborn home from the hospital.

Both Sara and Dani’s mental health had rapidly declined and JRS Australia had growing concerns over the family’s well-being and safety as they faced imminent homelessness.

With your valuable support, JRS Australia has been able to support Sara and her family with a fortnightly living allowance that supports the cost of their rent. Our Food Bank program has also helped keep their shelves stocked, for their small, growing family. Working with the Casework team, Sara and Dani have been provided with a bed and other essential household items for their rental accommodation, and items for their newborn baby. Sara’s husband Dani is also now engaged with JRS Australia’s Employment Program and working hard with our team to build his confidence and find meaningful work. The hope is that Dani will be able to re-enter the workforce and support his family financially.

The reality is that the situation Sara, Dani and their family faced is not unique. Refugees, people seeking asylum, and migrants are forced into vulnerable situations left to face these challenges without any financial safety net or support from the Government.

Every day, JRS Australia continues to receive requests for urgent support from families and individuals who have been forced to flee their homes due to violence, persecution, and war. Without pathways to assistance and at no fault of their own, these families and individuals have been placed into situations of forced destitution in our community.

Thanks to your generosity and support, JRS Australia delivered a record of 29,813 unique instances of support to 3,000 adults and children through providing emergency food, household essential items, life saving medication, and emergency financial relief. We are privileged to walk alongside those who have been marginalised in our community and to work with them to foster hope and a future by providing employment assistance, complex case work, access to legal support, and specialist sexual and gender-based violence prevention and response programs for women on temporary visas.

JRS Australia is strongly committed to continue working with displaced people in situations of vulnerability as we witness unprecedented levels of global displacement. JRS Australia does not receive any Federal Government funding. We value our ability to advocate independently for the rights of the people we serve. Our life-changing services are needed now more than ever however our resources are stretched very thin.

With the generosity of compassionate people like you we can continue to offer solidarity to our sisters and brothers, supporting them to access their rights and the safety net they have been denied. We ask you to join us and continue walking with us as we work for a brighter future for all.

Refugees and people seeking asylum want to work and contribute to their communities, as we witness them doing with dignity and courage, day-in and day-out, in ways which are often not visible or recognised. They want to live out their lives and raise their families in safety.

They deserve permanent protection and the fulfilment of their rights, including access to essential needs like food, housing, and healthcare. They deserve dignity, security, and the opportunity to live in peace.

As we near the end of the financial year, you can help refugees and people seeking asylum on their journey and give hope to those JRS Australia serves and accompanies.

Today, your tax deductible gift can make a real difference in the lives of the children, women and men that JRS is so honoured to serve. Today you can invest in protection and humanity.

You can donate online, simply mailing a cheque, or by calling the JRS office on (02) 9356 3888. Your donation is 100% tax deductible and will be put to work right away where it is most needed.

We invite you to join JRS Australia in building a future of justice and peace, ensuring that no one is left behind. Will you join and continue to walk with us?

We thank you for your compassion and hope you join us in our work by taking action today.

With much gratitude,
The JRS Australia Team