A Dandenong welfare service has celebrated its first birthday.
The Jesuran Wellness Centre in Herbert Street held an afternoon tea to mark the occasion on Thursday 9 June.
Pastor Hilda Samuel said it had provided “a fragrance of community support in the City of Greater Dandenong and beyond, with our amenities, services and love”.
Volunteers transformed a dilapidated former massage clinic into a freshly painted, welcoming one-stop shop primarily for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees.
It provides free lunches, clothes and other essentials, CV help and training, English language classes, a GP, counselling, a men’s group, a library and a games room.
Ms Samuel said Jesuran Wellness Centre ran on donations and volunteers and was devoted to social and community welfare, development, rehabilitation and equipping refugees and others to adapt to life in Australia.
She said it was a place where those who’d escaped from misery in war zones and detention centres were loved.
“We do inner healing that deals with the trauma – the spirit, mind and body. We identify all the emotional pain,” she said.
“We are here to make the journey with them and get them right.”
Jesuran Wellness Centre is open Tuesday to Saturday at 79a Herbert Street, Dandenong. Call 0407 125 649 to help.
