b'Supporting theLifeline Ballarat marks Afghan community50 years of saving livesOur KOMAK program (KOMAK means helpLifeline Ballarat celebrated its 50th anniversary or support in Dari) is a specialised team thatin November 2021 with a special service and champions the local Afghan community andmorning tea at the Ballarat Central Uniting works to develop resilience, wellbeing and buildChurch. The service was attended by one of community connections and engagement acrossLifeline Ballarats founders David Pratt OAM, Melbournes southeast. In August 2021, theone of the first volunteers, along with currentKOMAK team organised an online discussionstaff and volunteers. Since opening on 14 with a wide range of Afghan communityNovember 1971, Lifeline Ballarat has provided leaders, support agencies and governmenta reassuring voice at the end of the phone for representatives to deal with the growingpeople in crisis. But it wasnt easy to get the anxiety and distress of the local community toservice up and running. When we started, we the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. It wasdidnt have any money. We didnt know who attended by Victorian Government MPs, Victoriawould pay, how many people we might get Police, the Victorian Multicultural Commission,ringing up and we had no staff, says David. The local councils and faith-based and culturalservice was eventually made possible through support groups and associations. the support of several church congregations across Ballarat. The service has come a long way in the past 50 years. At the height of the Find out more about KOMAK COVID-19 pandemic, more than 3500 calls were being answered in the Ballarat service each day. Now part of Uniting Vic.Tas, we are grateful toNew look op shops servethe 60 volunteers working 24 hours a day, seven days a week as crisis supporters and providing local communities mental health awareness training across the Unitings op shops have undergone a significantBallarat region.transformation over the past year. All shops received new signage and some have had anVolunteer for lifelineinternal makeover. We also opened three new larger shops in Geelong, Werribee and Preston. The Geelong and Werribee shops were expanded while the Preston shop is a new service which attracted over 400 customers on opening day. This year we also introduced a new loyalty card program called RewardingU and gift cards.Find an Op Shop near youUniting Vic.Tas Annual Report 2021-2022 33'