Lutheran Care
Lenten Appeal
The Holy Season of Lent begins on Wednesday, 22 February, and runs for 40 days, in the leadup to Easter.
Traditionally, Lent is a time to make a personal sacrifice or commitment. It could be giving up take away coffee or chocolate, or doing more to help out a friend or neighbour.
Right now, Australian households are experiencing a cost of living and housing emergency and we need all the help we can get to keep up with demand for services. So this Lent, we are asking our generous supporters and others in the broader community who care about social justice and care for all, to make a donation to the Lutheran Care Lenten Appeal.
"Demand for our Emergency Relief service has risen by 260 per cent in two years. "
Your support can help us to continue our work with people in need in our community – and the need is growing at an alarming rate. Please, give what you can.
Lutheran Care
How You Can Help
Did you know, if you give up two large take away coffees a week, at the end of 40 days you will have saved around $60.
$60 can feed a family of 5 for a week through our Emergency Relief pantry.
Or, it can pay for a client’s one-hour appointment with a Counsellor to pass on important, life changing skills and confidence.
All donations $2 and above are tax deductible.
Thank you for your support.
Lenten Appeal
Voices of 40 Days
Dave is 58-years-old and suffered a terrible car accident 22 years ago. As a result, he has permanent damage to his back and shoulder, and receives a disability support pension. He is only able to work a few hours a week as a handyman, and regularly uses emergency relief and food pantries due to his small income.
Dave lives alone in his own home and recently presented to Lutheran Care with council rate arrears. Our financial counsellor supported Dave in setting up an ongoing payment arrangement to cover the cost of council rates in the future and provided education around budgeting. We were also successful in securing discount entitlements for electricity and Emergency Service Levy payments. The future is looking much brighter for Dave now that he has received support with his finances.
Jess, a 49-year-old mother of two was in a very serious long-term, domestic violence relationship, but had found the courage to leave. She was left with numerous debts to pay, including rent-to-own contracts on a couch, TV and laptops for her children. The total value of the items when the contracts began was under $3500. She has paid nearly $17,000 to rent the items over the past 12 years. The business she rented from was still expecting her to pay hundreds of dollars in rent.
Our financial counselor is currently advocating for the client and has asked the business to pay the client back $5000. The business has declined the offer and our financial counsellor is now seeking legal advice and will continue advocating.
“Many of my clients are already on a low income and receive Centrelink payments. The increase in the cost of living, particularly around grocery, electricity and fuel costs is exacerbating their financial hardship. Clients are neglecting their health needs just in order to be able to eat. They are having to make choices between food and medicines.
Many of my clients rent, and another issue I am seeing is that as their yearly lease expires landlords are increasing their rent. This is putting extra pressure on an already tight budget.” – Financial Counsellor
“There is a noticeable increase in the demand for food support overnight bags etc., in addition to this more clients are asking if the items can be delivered due to a lack of money for fuel and or registration. The financial stress can also exasperated with the circumstances of the family or individual suddenly changing, for example a client recently stated to me that he was eating moldy toast and using milk that had gone off in his coffee, due to a sudden change with his payments that was out of his control.” – Family Support Worker
“I have had clients attending appointments struggling to pay for the high cost of utilities and food. Having to rely on buy now pay later products to pay for food, then struggling to repay the debt. One mum stating they feel like failures as parents because their child requires a laptops for year 7 and due to the high cost of living the family has no way to pay for it.” – Financial Counsellor
Matthew came to Lutheran Care with a referral from Lyell McEwin Hospital after a lengthy hospitalisation for schizophrenia. He had a disconnection notice for his electricity, an unpaid car impoundment notice, an overdue gas bill and a $260 debt that had gone to a debt collection agency. The hospital made a part payment on his electricity account to avoid disconnection, but the remainder of his electricity bill was due in two weeks. Matthew was struggling to pay his debts, with a Disability Support Pension as his sole income and a heavy addiction to cigarettes.
Through his financial counselling appointments, Matthew set up Centrepay for $50 a fortnight for both electricity and gas. His rent had also increased, so he added that to his Centrepay, and a budget was created for him. Our Financial Counsellor sent a debt waiver request via email to the collection agency, to void the $260 debt. The request contained evidence of his mental health condition and hospital records. This request was approved.
Now in a good financial position, with the debts waived and a budget in place, Matthew can manage his finances and is encouraged to come back if he needs any other support with his financial situation.
Daryl is a First Nations man and Stolen Generations survivor with family members to support. He lives with mental health challenges and has been struggling to pay for groceries, let alone a replacement fridge to put them in when his broke down. He couldn’t afford his electricity bill and didn’t have the confidence or literacy skills to fill in Housing SA paperwork, leaving him with feelings of shame. <br>
<br>With our Financial Counsellor’s help, Daryl is now on a payment plan for his bill. Together, they wrote a letter to Housing SA and lodged paperwork for the National Redress Scheme for Stolen Generation survivors. We linked him to some community activities happening in his area and were able to source him a second hand fridge. Daryl received food through Emergency Relief and was also referred to a Lutheran Care counsellor for personal counselling, which he attends fortnightly.
In 2021, Sally, 29, began a relationship with a man who became controlling and financially abusive. During this relationship, Sally took out two personal loans, maxed out her credit card and created a StepPay account. She was working full-time, but her mental health was seriously impacted and she began to isolate from family and friends.
After Sally found the courage to end the relationship, she spent some time in the Lyell McEwin Mental Health Short Stay Unit, where a hospital social worker referred Sally to Lutheran Care.
Sally and our Financial Counsellor completed a statement of financial position, discovering her total debts came to $17,000. We supported Sally by contacting the bank and sharing, with her permission, the reason why she accumulated this debt. The bank utilised its Domestic and Family Violence Policy, offering Sally a full debt waiver for both personal loans and the StepPay account, so she could move forward in her life without the debt reminding her of what she went through in her relationship. Sally continues to work with our Financial Counsellor to improve her financial wellbeing by addressing the remaining debts.
I”The struggle I am seeing and hearing working with families in the community is obtaining stable housing, the rental market is a huge issue the price increase for a rental has sky rocketed and unaffordable for disadvantaged families, community housing is limited, it appears to have a wait list of up to 10 years, a lot of mothers and their children are either moving from motel to motel where ever there are vacancy’s, however most of the motels where they are placed the family’s are feeling unsafe.
We have had an increase of young ones sleeping in their cars and coming in to Family Zone to keep warm or cool and providing them with some lunch and food they can take with them that does not require warming up that can remain at room temperature. We provide support and a voice for the families and connecting them to the appropriate services. Families are struggling to feed their families with the price increase of food and fresh fruit and vegetables.” – Family Zone Worker
Meg is a Domestic Violence survivor in her early 60s. Her small business failed due to COVID-19 and she accrued significant debts because of unpaid rates and credit card bills. She was struggling with confidence because of the poor state of her teeth.
Our Financial Counsellor successfully applied to get Meg’s debts waived, and advocated for a dentist to perform the dental work for free. We helped Meg apply for a grant to pay for new dentures and her confidence and dignity has been restored. We’ve connected her with free small business support in her local area to help get her business back on track.
“The struggle I am seeing and hearing working with families in the community is obtaining stable housing, the rental market is a huge issue the price increase for a rental has sky rocketed and unaffordable for disadvantaged families, community housing is limited, it appears to have a wait list of up to 10 years, a lot of mothers and their children are either moving from motel to motel where ever there are vacancy’s, however most of the motels where they are placed the family’s are feeling unsafe.
We have had an increase of young ones sleeping in their cars and coming in to Family Zone to keep warm or cool and providing them with some lunch and food they can take with them that does not require warming up that can remain at room temperature. We provide support and a voice for the families and connecting them to the appropriate services. Families are struggling to feed their families with the price increase of food and fresh fruit and vegetables.” – Family Zone Worker
Crisis Relief and Early Intervention Programs
Donate today
"In the past year Emergency Relief has provided support at 2755 crisis relief appointments across South Australia and Northern Territory"
Your donation will help us support vulnerable families and individuals in South Australia and the Northern Territory.
- $25 - will help stock up Lutheran Care’s Emergency Relief pantry.
- $60 - funds a vulnerable person’s one-hour appointment with a Counsellor.
- $75 - can provide groceries to feed a family in crisis for a week.
- $150 - can support the playgroups and crèche services at our Family Zone hub, so children can be engaged and supervised whilst their parents change their lives by accessing programs that can help prevent homelessness such as financial counselling, mental health support or a parenting education program.
- $300 - can help us provide additional support to people experiencing complex issues such as homelessness, domestic or family violence, mental health concerns and more.
