Project Compassion is Australia's largest aid and development fundraising event, last year raising more than 9 million dollars in the six week lead-up to Easter. In 2011, Caritas Australia is aiming to set another Project Compassion record and raise $10.7 million towards innovative grass roots development and emergency response the world over.
Caritas Australia's CEO, Jack de Groot, said: "Last year the most successful Project Compassion appeal in almost forty-years. Australian generosity in 2010 has enabled us to support local community partners as we work to combat debilitating poverty and injustice across the globe.
"Year after year, Australian support for Project Compassion insulates our work from the pressures of financial uncertainty, bolsters our long-term commitment to partners, and creates opportunities for the most vulnerable communities to enact meaningful change for a brighter future.
"Yet is it not only our long-term commitments to partners, but also our capacity to respond when disaster strikes that so heavily relies on funds raised throughout our Project Compassion appeal. So often, it is those communities trapped in the midst of emergencies that depend upon our compassion and our action to uphold their dignity and human rights."
Caritas Australia is part of an international network that works in over 200 countries and territories, empowering communities to tackle the structures of poverty and take control of their future. Alongside our international partners, Caritas Australia works to provide grass-roots support to those people whose circumstances have rendered them unable to help themselves, particularly in the wake of major emergencies.
In September 2009, the south east coast of Samoa was devastated by a tsunami that was housing, schools and infrastructure completely washed away. The tsunami devastated 19 already vulnerable villages and survivors scrambled to find loved ones and what remained of their belongings and communities.
Twenty-six year old Kose was lucky enough to survive the inundation but recalls the disaster with trepidation: "It stays in my mind as if it happened just yesterday, seeing all the houses in our village destroyed. That morning the earth started to shake. When it went on for a long time, I knew something would happen. I was very scared. I asked myself: 'Is this the end of the world?' 'Are we all going to die?'"
Within hours of the tsunami Caritas Australia's local partner had mobilised a response on the ground. Caritas Samoa were one of the first organisations to assess community needs and deliver food and safe drinking water to people most affected by the disaster. This timely humanitarian assistance to hundreds of families helped save lives.
Mr de Groot said, "In 2009/10 Caritas Australia responded to 38 humanitarian crisis like the Samoan Tsunami, very few of these ever capture the headlines. With continued support for Project Compassion, we give help when it's needed most and walk in partnerships with communities as they recover from immense human suffering and build a better tomorrow."