West Welcome Wagon

Sunshine West, VIC Migrant Services
westwelcomewagon.org.au/

About West Welcome Wagon

West Welcome Wagon (WWW) was founded in September 2013 by Yarraville resident, Mia McGregor. After discovering that some local asylum seekers had been living without beds or electricity in an empty apartment for six weeks, she spoke with friends and posted requests for assistance on a local Facebook Buy Swap Sell group. The community’s response was quick, compassionate and incredibly generous. It became apparent that a separate Facebook group was needed to help mobilise ongoing support.

Within weeks of the commencement of the WWW Facebook group, community asylum seeker agencies were posting requests for WWW’s assistance, and by the end of that year there were requests coming directly from case management agencies. By December 2013, the WWW Facebook group had grown to 700 members and the management had grown from just Mia to a committee. Through this committee, WWW secured a grant and began an in-home English tutoring program, the volunteers organised themselves into collection points for donations and spent huge numbers of hours delivering much needed material aid to people in need.

During the first year of operation WWW supported 913 asylum seekers (155 children & 758 adults), none of whom had the right to work, all living on less than Centrelink’s minimum income, whilst paying rent. In that first year of operation WWW delivered more than 500 beds, 920 bags of food, 200 children’s bundles and 100 bikes.

A year after it began, WWW had around 3,500 members and became an Incorporated Association. Registration as a Charity followed shortly after

Contact

46 Vella Drive
Sunshine West VIC 3020
Australia

Local VRC: GoVolunteer