Posts tagged with: Blog

Hidden Gems in the Mitcham Op Shop

The Mitcham ADRA Op shop is a humble store located on the outskirts of Melbourne selling various clothing and household items to shoppers. Those who come into the store are welcomed by the store’s manager Marina Wirenski and the volunteers that help keep the store in order. Marina promotes meeting …

The global impact of ADRA’s reach

ADRA Australia is part of a global network and has offices all over the world. In Australia alone, we partner with 11 countries. Often we focus on what ADRA Australia has done within our borders and through these partner countries. But this means we can easily forget how far ADRA …

PNG earthquake: The long road to recovery

In February 2018, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake devastated the Southern Highlands of PNG. The mountainous area was completely isolated. 544,000 people were affected, 26,000 were left without a home, and 200 people were killed. Homes and other vital infrastructure crumbled, and locals were faced with the enormous task of cleaning …

Blacktown Centre equips next generation of counsellors

The ADRA Community Centre in the heart of Blacktown is supporting Sydney’s most vulnerable people. Run predominantly by volunteers, the Centre offers a range of services from food parcels to social work, but is best-known for its free quality counselling. “Financial stress is common among people who receive counselling from …

Paul’s Heart for Service

The first year anniversary for the ADRA Op Shop in Chinchilla has been bitter-sweet. As the Op Shop volunteers celebrated one year of offering help to the local community on 26 June 2019, they were missing a very important volunteer who has been instrumental in the start-up and success of …

A Life of Service

Maxine Abblott always wanted an active and meaningful retirement. For the last eight years, she has maintained a busy but happy lifestyle by volunteering for ADRA. Maxine started out by helping a few people every week, but now she is helping more than 200 people per week. “I’m an on-the-ground type …

Elvira’s Story

It’s 2am in the morning. Rain is pounding on the tin roof. Elvira wants to just roll over and fall back to sleep – but nature calls. She picks her way through the overgrown grass outside the house and ventures as far into the bush as she dares: surely no …

ADRA News – Winter 2019

Maria’s Story

The sound of roosters crowing fills the air long after the sun has risen. Maria leads us between the wooden houses of her village to an open space in the shade of palm trees. Although missing a leg, she sits with barely any difficulty. We are in a rural village …

A sanctuary in the heart of Blacktown

In the heart of Blacktown, perched above the hustle and bustle of commuters pouring out of the train station, lies the ADRA Blacktown Community Centre. For over a decade, a dedicated team of mostly volunteers have been serving their local community by meeting their greatest physical and emotional needs. The …