Aid agencies join forces to rescue

GREATER Dandenong’s aid agencies are joining forces to cover shortfalls left by funding cuts.
The council hosted representatives from various organisations at the Material Aid Forum last Monday.
Mayor Sean O’Reilly said they discussed the impacts that Department of Social Services grant program funding changes have made to material aid and emergency relief.
“There were some major agencies in attendance like the Red Cross and Salvation Army as well as the benevolent societies and the Community Aid and Advice Bureau from both Dandenong and Springvale,” he said.
Cr O’Reilly said more than 40 agencies provided aid and emergency relief to the Greater Dandenong community.
“It was really good for myself and for everybody to pick up on what everyone else was doing,” he said.
“It looks like there’s a realignment so that the Federal Government, in particular, is supporting some agencies more and some agencies less.
“It gave everybody a chance to work out who’s going to have more capacity and who’s going to have less.”
Cr O’Reilly said they spoke about how to service the community more efficiently and identified overlaps.
“I found it to be really useful in that they were working out if this sort of category of person, who do we refer them to?” he said.
“A couple of agencies actually said they’ve got spare capacity so they’re looking for more referrals.
“Everybody was in a positive frame of mood, sharing their experiences and how they do things.”
– CASEY NEILL