Tara Murray
The Craigieburn Salvation Army has been helping struggling families throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and now they are receiving some help of their own.
Stockland’s Highlands community has donated $5000 from its charity fund to help the Salvation Army continue its work and help more families.
Craigieburn Salvation Army Captain Peter Brookshaw said they were really thankful for the support from Stockland Highlands.
“With COVID-19 many families are struggling and we’re doing what we can to support people across all of Hume,” he said.
“Lots of people are struggling, like international students, people in casual employment and then there’s families struggling to make ends meet.
“Partnerships like this one with Stockland is really vital.”
Mr Brookshaw said the money had helped with food vouchers, food hampers, and medical expenses.
The Salvos have been running The Doorways Emergency Relief Program, which provides food donations to local families in need.
“It’s not just the low socio-economic that are struggling, the middle class are also struggling to make ends meet.
“We encourage people who need help to reach out.”
Stockland Highlands project director James Westh said the donation came about after Salvation Army members reached out for help.
“We have an annual grants program, for local groups and sporting groups in Craigieburn and surrounding areas. It runs every year and we usually give out five to 10 grants. Through that we’ve built a relationship with the local CFA and the Craigieburn War Memorial group and a few of those are also members of the local Craigieburn Salvation Army group,” he said.
“They reached out through that to us, asking if there was any chance we can apply for one of your grants… unfortunately they had expired for this year, but we said we can certainly have a look at what you’re doing and see where we can help out.
“We said how about we bring forward $5000 from next year’s grants and give it to you as we know it’s important.”
The Salvation Army is preparing for a busy festive season and is encouraging the community to lend a hand or make a donation during the holiday period.
“We encourage organisations to do toy and food drives and get in touch and we can disturb them. People are welcome to bring down food and financial contributions,” Mr Brookshaw said.
