"Friends of Refugees" was formed in early 2013 in Melbourne, VIC, emerging as a community response to the release of people seeking asylum with no work rights into the community . Friends of Refugees (FOR) was formed in early 2013, emerging as a practical response to address the needs of the huge number of asylum seekers released from detention centres to live in the Australian community, without
much support put in place. Asylum seekers in Australia have no guaranteed right to income, healthcare or settlement services. FOR grew out of providing material aid to new arrivals and quickly adapted to meet other emerging needs. We support asylum seekers and refugees in our local community by providing quality donated items, support services and community engagement. FOR supports asylum seekers and refugees both in detention and in the community. FOR is a volunteer run charity and is able to operate by the generous donations of concerned and compassionate Australians who contribute to our work. Over the last two years, FOR established a drop-in centre and warehouse, FOR’s supporters gave more than 40,000 volunteer hours valued at over 1.4 million dollars to serve over 2,000 individuals across 10 program areas. These programs provided material aid, emergency relief and food aid to over 850 hundred asylum seeker households across Melbourne, served over 4600 meals, provided education support to hundreds of adults and children, repaired and distributed free bikes to over 1100 children and adults, helped in maintaining many asylum seekers gardens free of charge, and is providing job training and social enterprise opportunities amongst other things. Most of all, we have built many friendships with the new arrivals to make them feel welcome in the community.
