Community
Foundation Features | Many people are unaware of Shepparton Family and Financial Services
The Greater Shepparton Foundation builds partnerships and collaborations to connect the needs of the local community with essential resources and skills to tackle and disrupt the cycle of disadvantage. The Foundation Features series will help shine a light on those driving change through innovative initiatives, as well as highlight community organisations that align with the foundation’s purpose.
The humble brick building in Naomi St is easy to miss. There are no flashy signs or state-of-the-art premises; in fact, if you hadn’t been referred by other services or recommended to visit by close friends or family, you probably wouldn’t know it existed.
It is that way by design.
As manager Tracie Driscoll tells me, if they were located in a flash office space in town, their clients wouldn’t come. Not because they don’t desperately need their services, but because Shepparton Family and Financial Services is where you go when you have nowhere else, and more often than not, you don’t want anyone to know you have been there.
The non-for-profit service became a ‘catch all’ when it reopened its doors immediately following the floods and 500 people rushed through the doors in two days seeking financial services, emergency food aid and no-interest loans. Presentations at this scale are more than double the normal number of clients seeking aid. This volume of need has not slowed down.
A nimble team of volunteers, supported by Tracie and a financial capability worker, operate around the clock to support our community’s most vulnerable. But even they could see the level of demand following the floods was too high to handle, and measures needed to be put in place to support staff, volunteers, avoid burnout and ensure adequate resources were in place so those at their most desperate were not being turned away.
It is predicted this level of demand for SFFS will remain for up to two years as our community recovers from the floods.
Funds from the Community Flood Recovery Campaign have allowed SFFS to scale up its operations and put on a financial counsellor who will sit down with you and work through options to get you back on your feet. This one-on-one support is exactly what is needed in times of crisis when you feel like you can’t get ahead.
As well as supporting with funds from the Community Flood Recovery Campaign, Greater Shepparton Foundation has been lobbying the Victorian Government to recognise and support grassroots organisations, such as SFFS, that have stepped up during the flood crisis.
Government Services Minister Danny Pearson and Housing Minister Colin Brooks took time to visit SFFS in late November to gain a greater understanding of the important work it does in supporting the Greater Shepparton community. Thank you to our outgoing independent Member for Shepparton, Suzanna Sheed, for brokering this opportunity.
Without adequate and stable funding for grassroots organisations such as this, a whole segment of our community could slip through the gaps.
Until next time.
Amanda McCulloch
Greater Shepparton Foundation executive officer