BENDIGO may soon lose an emergency relief service, as Uniting Vic.Tas proposes to close its emergency assistance site on Forest Street.
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But volunteers have questioned why the charity - formerly known as UnitingCare - is proposing to close its bigger Forest Street service, rather than its smaller Kangaroo Flat site.
Documents seen by the Bendigo Advertiser show Uniting proposes to consolidate its Greater Bendigo emergency relief services, to operate solely out of its Kangaroo Flat site.
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Volunteer Marg Ferreri said it didn't make sense to close the Forest Street centre, in central Bendigo.
"If all of the clients from Forest Street go to Kangaroo Flat, I don't think they will cope," Ms Ferrari said.
"We have up to 200 clients a week, against up to 30 a week down there [in Kangaroo Flat]."
The Forest Street service operates for five hours, four days a week, while the Kangaroo Flat service operates two days a week, for four hours each day.
Volunteer and former Bendigo UnitingCare chair Bruce Johnson said the change would cut the charity's hours in the municipality from six days a week in total across the two sites, to just three days.
Mr Johnson said most of Forest Street's clients were from disadvantaged areas such as California Gully and Long Gully, meaning they would struggle to access the Kangaroo Flat site.
He said no other service in central Bendigo provided the same amount of food relief as the Forest Street site.
Mr Johnson said the central Bendigo location was also important, because it allowed volunteers to refer clients on to nearby agencies.
Uniting's proposal stated its northern emergency relief model was "in financial deficit" and "not currently sustainable within the present funding".
Uniting's financial statements show it receives 75 per cent of its income from government grants.
Documents show Uniting has proposed to operate a single service from its current Kangaroo Flat site, running at three days a week rather than the current two.
Documents stated the Kangaroo Flat site was chosen because the suburb has fewer emergency relief services than central Bendigo, more open space is available, the site is more accessible, and infrastructure costs are lower.
It did not state the proposed hours of operation of the consolidated site.
Three paid positions in Bendigo will no longer exist if the proposed changes go forward, with a single coordinator at the Kangaroo Flat centre in their place, reporting to a northern region coordinator.
Volunteer Rosie Baxter said Forest Street volunteers and staff were extremely upset, because the organisation helped a large area of very vulnerable people.
Miss Baxter said other agencies in central Bendigo provided food, but not the same volume as Uniting, and people had to make appointments.
She said Uniting had told volunteers and staff that a lack of funding was the reason for closing the Forest Street centre.
But Miss Baxter said Forest Street workers felt that they could find a solution that would work for the community as well as volunteers if they had more time.
"[Closure] would be absolutely devastating not just for our clients, but also the Bendigo community," she said.
"We do have a lot of vulnerable people and people in need, especially with COVID."
A Uniting spokesperson said the service was reviewing how it delivered its local emergency relief services to make sure it continued to meet the needs of vulnerable people across the region.
They said Uniting would be in a position to discuss its findings once it completed the review.
"Uniting Vic.Tas has a long and proud history of providing services to the Greater Bendigo community and that will continue," they said.
Uniting has also proposed to consolidate several Greater Melbourne emergency relief services.
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