Lazarus Community Centre is dedicated to supporting people experiencing homelessness and those at risk in the Greater Geelong region. The need for their services continues to grow as more individuals and families face housing insecurity.

In 2024 alone, Lazarus provided:

• 13,683 meals to those in need
• Support to 506 new clients
• 2,198 shower access
• 1,867 instances of clothing assistance

Thanks to a Benefit Geelong grant, they are now able to purchase a commercial under bench dishwasher and two large residential ovens for our new, purpose-built centre. These will be vital additions to their kitchen, used daily by our incredible team of volunteers who prepare home-cooked meals for Geelong’s most vulnerable community members.

Currently, Lazarus serves 50–60 meals a day, but with the expanded space and improved facilities, they anticipate this increasing to 70–80 meals a day. The new equipment is essential to help them meet this demand.

At present, their centre does not have a dishwasher. The addition of one will not only save their volunteers many hours of manual work but also ensure more hygienic and efficient kitchen operations.