Hope Lives Here: This World Refugee Day, join the ASRC’s Telethon to celebrate 25 years of countless stories, one community

There are some things that should never depend on luck: a warm blanket in winter, a safe place to sleep, the chance to see a doctor when you’re sick. Yet for many people seeking asylum in Australia, those basics are becoming harder and harder to reach.

This June, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre is bringing people together for two major campaigns aimed at changing that reality: the World Refugee Day Telethon, powered by the ASRC, on Saturday 20 June, and the ASRC’s Winter Appeal. Both campaigns shine a light on the growing pressures facing people seeking asylum and refugee communities, helping to raise vital funds to provide food, shelter, healthcare, legal aid and advocacy.

Marking 25 years of the ASRC, this year’s Telethon centres around the theme ‘25 Years. Countless Stories. One Community.’ It’s a celebration of the people, families, volunteers and advocates who have shaped the organisation over the past quarter-century, and a reminder that behind every story is a community helping carry it forward. Expect special guests, live performances, a silent auction and powerful interviews with refugees, community leaders, staff, volunteers and supporters who have been part of the ASRC community from its earliest days to today. It also ties in with Refugee Week 2026’s theme ‘A Million Stories’, recognising the one million refugee journeys that have shaped Australia and continue to shape our shared future. One such story belongs to Senada Suljagic, who arrived in Australia as a child with her mother and remembers visiting the ASRC in 2001, when it was still operating from a small fruit and vegetable shop across the road from its current home in Footscray, Naarm/Melbourne.

Tune in on Saturday, 20 June to donate and support: simply call 1300 692 772 (1300 MYASRC), or donate online at donate.asrc.org.au/telethon. You can also bid on an item at www.32auctions.com/asrcauction2026.

If you’d like to help even more this chilly season, the Winter Appeal is responding to a stark reality: families turning off heaters because they can’t afford electricity, parents skipping meals so their children can eat, people delaying medical care simply to survive rising living costs. Your donation could support a family to stay warm or feast on a nutritious meal.

We spoke with Kon Karapangiotidis, founder and CEO of the ASRC, about the hope that lives in ASRC, and what it means to keep choosing compassion in increasingly difficult times.

The work of the ASRC is so important because it is a place of welcome and hope for thousands of refugees each year, who turn to us as their safety net. It’s also important because it enables hundreds of thousands of Australians each year to take action to show that Australians are welcoming, compassionate and kind. And it’s important because it’s independent from Federal Government funding, to create the change that refugees want for a more humane and compassionate Australia.

Over the past 25 years there were literally thousands of moments that have brought home to me the importance and necessity of what we do. One that stands out to me, is when we – with many others – freed thousands of children from offshore detention centres: we got kids off Nauru. To see these children go from almost certain death, kids that have gone mute and stopped walking, talking, eating, moving… and to bring them here to safety and freedom, and to now watch these same children becoming thriving, healthy, proud young Australians, contributing to our community, doing our country proud, doing their families proud… That reminds me every day about what a gift and honour it is to walk the journey with refugees, and to play a small part in that.

How do we continue to choose compassion in such challenging times? I think we have a choice. The alternative is a moral and spiritual and communal dead end: one of hate, fear, division and disconnect. Compassion opens up our hearts, creates curiosity, connects us to our community, builds something built from radical love and empathy and goodness. It’s where everything we dream of and hope for, comes from.

Choose compassion by donating to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre via their World Refugee Day Telethon on Saturday 20 June.

♡ This is a Better Together Peppermint Partnership, where we team up with brands we love. This story was created with support from our friends at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, celebrating 25 years of supporting vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers with practical resources and the compassion to be found in community.