Donations of clothing, food, toys and household goods have been flooding into AMES Australia’s donations centre at Melbourne’s Multicultural Hub where dozens of volunteers are helping to sort and distribute the items.
Local Afghan community groups and individuals have rallied to provide food and friendship and local Afghan and middle-eastern restaurants have provided a steady flow of culturally familiar meals.
Other local community groups and individuals have also generously provided a range of necessities for the recently arrived Afghan refugees.
Among the donations have been a wide range of clothing from Empire Apparel.
The Islamic Council of Victoria has donated several hundred Korans and prayer mats
Local refugee and migrant businesses have supported AMES Australia in catering for Afghan clients coming out of quarantine, including the Afghan Gallery Kitchen and its owner Homaira, Aylas Café Adelaide, Hamed's Salamatea Café Sunshine, and the Shamiat Syrian restaurant in Northcote.
All have provided delicious Halal catering to AMES’ clients - often donating goods, time and extra care to prepare and deliver COVID safe meals.
Other key supporters have included Wyndham Park Community Centre; Jet Australia; Tarneit Sikh Temple, which supplied 450 meals of delicious dahl and rice, and; Secondbite, which supplied 1000 delicious Halal meals and delicious fresh vegetables for clients arriving at all hours.
Other donors and providers include: Telstra, which supplied 500 tablets; 7Eleven; Sussan; Sportsgirl; 'thewelcomegroup'; the Gandel Foundation; Cotton On; Brand Collective; Scape; Bonds; Berlei; Everlast; Hanes Group and Giveit.com.
One former AMES teacher Maria McLaren mobilised her entire apartment block in East Melbourne to collect quality goods and donations for recent the Afghan cohort.
Two SUV loads of beautiful clothing, leather goods and more have been collected so far and residents continue to give.
Staff at accommodation provider Scape staff have filled a 24 seater bus full of mint condition goods and clothes to support AMES Australia clients
After carefully cleaning and packing the items for the AMES Multicultural pop up donations centre hosted in the Drill Hall, the Scape team put together a special welcome pack for client Mohammed and his wife who welcomed a new baby last week during their first week in Melbourne.
The City of Melbourne has supplied marshals to help maintain COVID-19 protocols.
The best way to help is to make a financial donation through AMES Australia’s People in Need Fund on https://www.ames.net.au/about/make-a-donation or via AMES Australia GIVIT fund on https://www.givit.org.au/whats-needed/fund-whats-needed/e737fbde-2b7d-4b7e-be2b-5d34c2a86aa5?appeal=219&fbclid=IwAR20WTY21h4adYwslR64XyV1hmILQSopOm_nYNnGw9RyVsBIXlqMCC4er7E