|
What is
Emergency Relief?
Emergency
relief is the provision of critical support to individuals or
families who for various reasons may be experiencing immediate and
personal distress due to a financial emergency or domestic
crisis.
People who
fit this profile usually include the unemployed, low-income
earners, victims of domestic violence, refugees, sole parents,
elderly, disabled or homeless persons.
Assistance, which may vary from one welfare agency or community
organisation to another, could comprise any one of a number of
services: provision of food parcels or vouchers; household goods or
clothing; rent assistance; payment of bills such as electricity and
gas, or money to buy a meal.
Other forms of assistance such as specialist counseling, transport
assistance, medicine, school uniforms and books, as well as
community information services, may also be provided to meet the
requirements of disadvantaged people and support their
well-being.
How much assistance any agency or organization can provide will be
dependent on their resources. While some of the larger agency
networks such as the Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul and
UnitingCare, may have considerable scope to offer a wide range of
assistance and aid, many other smaller agencies are restricted to
more specific support – such as food, household goods or
clothing.
As Victoria's
largest emergency relief resource centre, VicRelief Foodbank,
exists to provide vital support to these agencies where there might
be a shortfall in their ability to provide vital food and material
aid resources to their clients.
Emergency
Relief is also a term used by Emergency Services units - like the
State Emergency Service (SES) - to describe the need to help
communities recover in times of natural disaster. In this instance
emergency relief relates to the immediate requirement to help
people with clothing, food, bedding and other forms of material aid
should their lives suddenly become disrupted by such events
as bushfires, flood and
drought.
Emergency
Relief: Sector Profile
The provision
of emergency relief to Victorians in social hardship has been
evident for over 150 years. From the early days of Victoria's
colonial beginnings when community 'missions' thrived, welfare
organisations administering assistance to those in need have always
been part of the social landscape.
Today
emergency relief in Victoria represents a vast and complex sector
of providers. It is a sector which is unique in Australia and
comprises a diverse array of more than 700 non-government
organisations.
While many of
these are primarily 'faith'-based, the emergency relief sector also
comprises large numbers of charitable and welfare organisations,
community based agencies, large and public institutions, as well as
culturally and ethically specific support bodies.
The total
value of emergency relief support provided to the Victorian
community sector annually is estimated at between
$25-30million. Of this total value almost $12 million (or 50%) was
provided by VicRelief Foodbank in 2006/07 in the form of food and
material aid.
It is
estimated that almost 80% of the people working in emergency relief
organisations in Victoria are non-paid volunteers, providing almost
$1 million worth of labour per annum.
Key
Links
For information on the
Emergency Relief Victoria Network>> | 