Liam McNally
Demand for the Western Emergency Relief Network (WERN) has more than tripled in the last eight years, and it’s asking for extra support to help vulnerable members of the community.
WERN is a volunteer-run organisation that provides emergency relief and assistance through its Member Welfare Agencies.
Its primary service is providing material aid including furniture, appliances and bedding to people in need.
WERN administration manager Ross Butterworth said that when WERN launched in 2015 it helped three to four families a week with an average of 11 items per order, but today it’s supporting 10 to 12 families per week with an average of 35 to 40 items supplied per order.
Since December, wait-times for an appointment with WERN have blown out to almost a month, where they used to be almost non-existent.
“I was part of the working party charged with setting up the WERN program and I have never experienced the level of requests we have today,” Mr Butterworth said.
“The obvious impact is the cost of living and the increasing number of families in crisis, together with the impacts of the floods in October 2022 starting to impact on services such as ours as families are recovering to resettle their lives after the battles with insurers, financial institutions, and in some cases councils.”
Mr Butterworth said to help meet rising demand, WERN is seeking more volunteers and donations.
“Supply and demand has always been challenging… as the demand surges we have struggled to get sufficient numbers of required items into stock for clients. “Whitegoods and beds are always a problem in attracting sufficient numbers. WERN is very fortunate to have two volunteer technicians repairing broken or damaged whitegoods so we can accept fridges, washing machines and dryers whether they are working or not,” he said.
“WERN is supported with some fantastic donors and incredible donations but is always in need of more.
“More Volunteers will provide WERN the opportunity to increase appointment times and access, to operate our Collections Team more frequently to increase the numbers of donations collected and to handle the increased volumes of donations needed.
“All volunteers and support is welcome and there are many different roles available.”
Details: warehouse@wern.org or 8372 4110.
