By Derek Schlennstedt
An enduring service in Belgrave will celebrate 20 years of delivering emergency relief services to the hills community.
On 3 October, the Dandenong Ranges Emergency Relief Service (DRERS) will recognise two decades of offering help and support to those less fortunate.
And of course the 20-year-old organisation has gone from strength to strength since its inception, which creator pastor Frank Watson attributed to the incredible work of volunteers.
Pastor Watson said that he never thought it would grow to what it is today.
“You don’t envisage anything like this, you start something off and you think this is what I want to do and should do, but to see it grow like this is incredible.”
“It’s good volunteers, good ethos. Tania is brilliant as the co-ordinator but I think it’s the whole atmosphere, it’s a fun place to be – just have a look at the faces of the volunteers and you can see they enjoy coming here, they all have the same passion as I have, same desires and it just grows, it can’t do anything else but grow.”
DRERS offers support to people who are homeless and disadvantaged.
That support comes in the form of food, food vouchers, payment of prescriptions, clothing vouchers, assistance with paying bills, advocacy, referrals and crisis counselling.
DRERS Manager, Tania Bevan said about 400 people came into DRERS annually to access services directly, but that each interaction with a resident had a flow-on effect to others.
“When we help a family, who may then assist a neighbour, indirectly, we know it affects more people than just the presenting client as part of the community,” she said.
Tania has worked at DRERS since 2008 and agrees with Pastor Frank that the dedication of volunteers – which number over 60 – is paramount.
“I think it is the dedication of the volunteers to serving their community and wanting to strengthen their community … and the fact that there is a need in the community, people see the need and come along and help.”
DRERS is set continue its growth with the organisation which is currently squeezed into a small building next to the Cameo. moving to the new Belgrave hub in April of 2018.
“It will be really nice to have some room to move and service the community better,” Tania said.
