TOMAREE Neighbourhood Centre are holding a Christmas raffle with a difference.

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The proceeds of their raffle will go directly to those most in need at this time of year – people experiencing homelessness, and to continue to help support families and individuals in the community who are in crisis.

The aim of the fundraiser is to provide people in the local community experiencing homelessness with funds for transport, to be able to attend appointments at The Department of Housing in Newcastle and to continue to provide food hampers to people experiencing homelessness and disadvantaged members of our community.

Currently across Australia 1/200 people are experiencing homelessness.

Tonight 116, 4727 people across the country will be homeless, everyday 250 people are turned away from crisis centres across the country.

Clare Saunders from Tomaree Neighbourhood Centre told News Of The Area, “Through our work with families and individuals at the neighbourhood centre, we have seen an increase in our clients experiencing homelessness and poverty.”

“We want to continue to do the work we do, and increase the services we can offer these people and families, so that this statistic goes down instead of up.”

Tomaree Neighbourhood Centre currently assists people experiencing homelessness and also families and individuals who are disadvantaged in our local community.

Clare said “We provide our clients with food hampers and assistance with referral to appropriate services.”

“We are seeing an increase in client’s visiting the centre and unfortunately at times our food pantry runs low.”

“We currently do not have the funds to provide clients with assistance to travel into Newcastle to attend appointments at The Department of Housing – something that seems so simple, but is so important.”

You can help the staff and volunteers of this wonderful service to be able to do their job over this incredibly busy period by purchasing a raffle ticket.

There are nearly forty prizes, ranging from vouchers for local businesses, through to scuba diving packs, complete dinners out and experiences across Port Stephens and Newcastle.

Tickets are $2 each or three for $5, and can be purchased at the Tomaree Neighbourhood Centre any time they are open, or from Salamander Bay Shopping Centre on Monday November 26 at their pop up stand from 10am – 2pm.

By Rachael VAUGHAN