A Mandurah community advocate has pushed for broader understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty during a national week aimed at combating the issue.
A Peel resident for more than 41 years, Jim Mather has been supporting the city’s most vulnerable for the past 13 years as a member of Mandurah Vinnies.
St Vincent de Paul Society’s presence in Western Australia consists of more than 3,500 volunteers and staff working in emergency relief and support in financial crises.
Members are the core of Vinnies WA and a large part of the assistance provided is through local groups known as ‘conferences’.
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As Mandurah conference president for the charity, Mr Mather was pleased to show his support for Anti-Poverty Week 2018.
“St Vincent de Paul offers compassionate help for families seeking assistance with most requests in Mandurah being for food, furniture and clothing as well as help with bills,” he said.
“Since January, the Mandurah Vinnies has assisted 2800 adults and their dependants.”
During Anti-Poverty Week, Vinnies aim is to highlight what poverty looks like in a country as affluent as Australia.
Poverty is defined to exist when a household’s income is so low that it prevents them from having an acceptable standard of living with 13.3 per cent of the Australian Population living below this poverty line, including over 730,000 children.
How can you show your support?
To help people living below the poverty line:
- Visit vinnies.org.au if you know somebody that needs assistance or want to learn more about Vinnies advocacy and services.
- Make a donation which ensures our volunteers have life changing resources to help our most vulnerable people in need.
- Become a Vinnies volunteer and become an integral part of our organisation by working together to make a difference to someone’s life.
- Promote Anti-Poverty Week on social media and use the social media tiles available on the Vinnies website to help us educate Australians about poverty in our country.
- Take part in an Anti-Poverty week activity or event by visiting antipovertyweek.org.au.
