- GSLP Story of Change -
GV Cares, a rapid response initiative
GV Cares Round 2
With flood waters rising over the weekend of October 15 and 16, Greater Shepparton Lighthouse Project activated its GV Cares initiative to support the Greater Shepparton community. Once it was established that Shepparton Foodshare would be out of action due to their premises being cut off because of the floods it became evident that managing crisis food relief was a priority. Between October 18-25, GV Cares sourced food from over 20 different supermarkets, local businesses/farms and organisations and delivered a total of 2657 hampers to residents across our region.
With a crew of 150 volunteers contributing over the week-long effort. GV Cares provided food hampers and supplies to satellite hubs in Mooroopna, Murchison, Tatura, Undera, Barmah, Cummeragunja and Shepparton. Food hampers were also delivered to various community service groups and schools. Items such as medication, nappies, baby formula and sanitary items were supplied as requested.
None of this would have been possible without the assistance of the amazing volunteers. ‘Our incredible community has again come out in full force. It was amazing to see what could be achieved in such a short time frame, we really can’t thank our volunteers enough’ said Amy Robinson, Executive Officer of Greater Shepperton Lighthouse Project.
Working in with the Incident Control Centre (ICC), VicSES and the Victorian Fisheries Authority ensured deliveries to households cut off by floodwaters were made safely.
GV Cares flood relief project was made possible due to collaboration with Greater Shepparton City Council, Shepparton Foodshare, the Greater Shepparton Foundation, Committee for Greater Shepparton, Giz A Break, Point of Difference (POD) Studios, Ethnic Council – Shepparton, Mooroopna Education and Activity Centre (MEAC) and Shepparton Family and Financial Services. GV Cares acknowledges all these organisations for their work in supporting the community during this crisis.
GV Cares Round 1
COVID19 outbreak in Shepparton (beginning 19th August 2021) led to many schools being Tier 1 sites and close to 20,000 Greater Shepparton residents being placed into 14 days of mandatory isolation. The flow-on impact of a third of our population being in quarantine created a shortage and over-demand for grocery deliveries leading to a crash of the local supermarket’s online services. With school students being in isolation, further pressure was placed on essential services that rely on a casualised workforce.
The vulnerability created by this did not discriminate, with families from across our community experiencing high levels of stress and food insecurity. On our first night of GV Cares, our Triage team received 300 requests for support, from there requests were consistent for 10 days, tapering off as people were released from isolation after their day 13 tests.
In response to this crisis, Greater Shepparton Lighthouse Project was established and was the backbone driver of GV Cares, a rapid response for food relief and essential item supports, such as medicine and baby items.
An estimated 20,000 residents or one-third of Shepparton's population were required to isolate for 14 days. (Round 1)
A unique aspect of the local outbreak was an overrepresentation of our multicultural community in positive cases. Lighthouse staff and Board members played an essential role in understanding the outbreak in Iraqi community members by acting as the conduit between community members and GV Health’s COVID monitoring team. Lighthouse’s Multicultural worker and Executive Officer provided support directly to our multicultural community leading a sub-group of community members to support the Iraqi and Arabic speaking community. Culturally appropriate food and essential items was provided to over 200 homes, with each family contacted to also ensure they were aware of the rules of isolation, that they were getting tested as required and stayed home as directed. This work was significant in contributing the control of the outbreak as over 80% of the people infected with COVID-19 in Greater Shepparton were from the Arabic speaking communities. Chris Hazelman, Manager of the Ethnic Council of Shepparton says that he had direct communication from GV Health that ensures that the work that was done with the multicultural community had a direct impact on the number of cases in the area was culturally safe.
Contributing to the rapid control of the local COVID19 outbreak GV Cares, volunteers and other local organisations were commended on their collective efforts by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The Zoom call was facilitated by Damian Drum MP and was shared with all volunteers and community members that contributed to supporting the outbreak response.
Through the Facebook page, messenger, the designated email or through the Lighthouse phone community members were able to make contact to request support. Many people were referred directly through services or community groups.
Examples of communities and organisations referring
- GV Health – relief for Covid positive cases
- Greater Shepparton Secondary College
- Lulla's (Aboriginal pre-school)
- Shepparton and District Ethnic Council
- Congolese, Iraqi, Afghani, Aboriginal communities
- Primary Care Connect
- Community Hubs x 3
- Primary Schools – Gowrie St, Wilmot Rd, St Georges Rd, Bourchier St, Mooroopna, St Mels
Factors facilitating success
- Diversity of the collaboration and consistent activities aligned to the goal
- Activation of community leaders and influencers including leaders from the Aboriginal. Multicultural and business communities
- Rapid response and immediate action
- Continuous communication through Facebook as a means of promotion and engagement of community
- Large network of dedicated volunteers
- Donations from across Australia
- The rapid development of systems to assess volunteer eligibility
- What’s App used to streamline communication
- Daily briefings with GV Cares were undertaken
- Development of database and shared measurement systems
- Skilled staff on triage team chatting with community
- Activated community with a shared agenda
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10 August 2021
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20 August 2021
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21 August 2021
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22 August 2021
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23 August 2021
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24 August 2021
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25 August 2021
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26 August 2021
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27 August 2021
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28 August 2021
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30 August 2021
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01 September 2021
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02 September 2021
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04 September 2021
GV Cares Timeline
Members of GV Cares
Lisa McKenzie, Chair and Greater Shepparton Lighthouse Project EO
Sam Birrell – Committee 4 Greater Shepparton
Felicia Dean – Rumbalara Aboriginal Cooporative
Robyn McCully – Greater Shepparton Secondary College, Wellbeing Team leader
Sharon Hensgen-Smith – Department of Education and Training
Chris Hazelman – Ethnic Council
Rob Priestly – Gouge and GSCC Councillor
Bree Findlay – GSLP Early Years table member and CAF Consulting
Jeremy Rensford – Shepparton Foodshare
Kaye Thomson & David Booth – GSCC
Courtney Wilson, Belinda Senini, Steve Ayton, Sarah Pain, Kathy Fuller, Amy De Paola - GSLP