With one in six children living in poverty UnitingCare agencies are struggling to meet the demand from families seeking assistance with the basics of life.

UnitingCare is one of the largest providers of community services in Victoria and Tasmania and with more people turning to them for help than ever before they are relying on donations to the SHARE Community Appeal to continue providing vital services this winter.

SHARE funds UnitingCare and other worthy community service programs which help people in crisis right here in our own communities.

The theme of the SHARE Winter Appeal this year is Poverty is much closer than you think which SHARE director David Hickey said “illustrates just how invisible poverty can be for many of us who go about our daily lives not knowing there are people, possibly in our own streets, who are struggling to survive.”

When people hear the word poverty the first thing they often think of is a drug addicted person sleeping on an inner-city street.

“With one in eight people affected by poverty it’s far more likely to be the people in their own community who through no fault of their own are struggling to survive,” Mr Hickey said.

Poverty is a prevalent problem with people facing a range of complex hardships in their lives.  They may be homeless or at risk of homelessness, experiencing mental illness or they may be struggling with the rising cost of living and providing for children.

The annual SHARE Winter Appeal is vital to the future of a whole range of community support programs that governments do not fund.

“Without the support of SHARE many essential community support programs would be forced to close, leaving thousands of people with nowhere to go” Mr Hickey said.

UnitingCare ReGen, a leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation agency, are introducing the Little Book series, which contains facts and real-life scenarios highlighting the potential harms associated with drug and alcohol use.

People who need help with food do so because they face a range of complex hardships in their lives and the three most common issues facing people who seek emergency relief are housing stress, homelessness and mental health issues.

UnitingCare Tasmania has 10,000 emergency relief appointments every year. That’s 27 people who come to them for help every day.

In the past three years SHARE has distributed over $885,000 to emergency relief programs.  Funds distributed doubled between 2011 and 2012 which highlights the growing numbers of people seeking help with the basic necessities of life.