More than $10,000 was donated to the Salvation Army by Sunbury shoppers during its annual Red Shield appeal last year, and its volunteers are hoping for continued community support this year.
The organisation’s volunteers will be at Sunbury Square and Bunnings from Monday 19 May with tins and card readers to drum up cash for its work in the town.
The Salvation Army’s captain Colin Reynolds says every dollar donated in Sunbury will be spent in Sunbury.
“Once upon a time all the money we raised through our Red Shield appeal across Australia would have gone into a general fund,” he says. “But we are much more locally centred now.
“For example if a person within Sunbury donates $50 to the Red Shield appeal, then that $50 will go back into the Sunbury community.
“I believe this is welcomed because supporters know that if they donate through the Salvation Army the money will stay within the community.”
Captain Reynolds says while the Salvation Army helps the homeless – in double figures in Sunbury – those facing drug and alcohol dependency, people with gambling issues, and provides counselling to families living with domestic violence, the cost of living crises has taken its tole.
“In the last couple of years the pressure that the cost of living crisis has placed upon low income, disadvantaged individuals, and families in our local community has been a real challenge,” he says.
“It’s stretched us in terms of how we can serve a growing cohort of people who really – just in the last year or two – are challenged by putting food on the table.”
To help, the Salvavation Army in Sunbury regularly prepares 20 to 30 food hampers for those facing food insecurity as well as offering free supermarket vouchers to those in need.
It also has dedicated staff working with victims of family violence, with Captain Reynolds saying Sunbury has the highest rate of family violence in Victoria.
Sunbury’s Salvation Army is at 27-37 Anderson Rd, and provides emergency food relief Wednesdays and Fridays.
