West Welcome Wagon, a registered charity that welcomes asylum seekers into Melbourne’s West with food, clothing, furniture and other essentials, is seeking a new home.

The not-for-profit group collects a range of donated goods and delivers them to local asylum seeker families in Melbourne’s West.

Asylum seeker charity is seeking a new warehouse to streamline their operations

WWW needs a warehouse – or financial assistance to rent one – so they can streamline their operations and move it out of the hallways, lounge-rooms and backyard sheds of their volunteers.

Group founder Mia McGregor said the organisation has struck a chord with western suburbs families who are eager to donate – but it now needs a main collection and distribution point to improve its capabilities.

“We continue to be in awe at the generosity of the local community but we are in desperate need of a warehouse with an appropriate amount of floor space so we can streamline our collection operations,” Ms McGregor said.

“We are seeking generous benefactors who might rent a warehouse to us cheaply, or who might donate funds so we can find an appropriate site ourselves.”

Ms McGregor said that since it was formed in 2013, West Welcome Wagon had delivered essentials to more than 500 asylum seeker families but was now struggling to provide help to all those that need it due to lack of space.

“The people of the west continue to be extraordinarily generous when it comes to donating, but we have been unable to take full advantage because our collection points are homes and backyard sheds scattered across the region,” Ms McGregor said.

“We could do so much more to welcome asylum seeker families if we could centralise our resources in the one location. This would mean that our volunteers could reclaim their homes and also provide us with a space to come together as a community and build our network of neighbour-to-neighbour support in the West.”

To find out more visit www.westwelcomewagon.org.au or www.facebook.com/WestWelcomeWagon or email info@westwelcomewagon.org.au

Click here to make a donation.

Laurie Nowell
AMES Australia Senior Journalist