By YASEMIN TALAT
THE Point Cook community have rallied together to help a family in need, and they won’t stop at just one family.
Point Cook resident Elaine Davies and her family have called Australia home for the past three years.
Her husband’s job moved the family of four from Yorkshire, England to Wyndham, where they settled in well.
So well in fact, they now want to call Australia home permanently.
Knowing their temporary visas were nearing an end, the family applied for permanent residency several times.
After a few knockbacks they were told the visas they originally saved up for had increased from $3000 to $7000 giving them one week to save another $4000.
Mrs Davies needed to think fast, so she reached out to the online community group the Point Cook Expats.
“I asked if anybody had any idea of any banks that can lend any money or where we can get help for this $4000 in a relatively short time,” Mrs Davies said.
“And from there it snowballed.”
After one group member’s suggestion that each of the 380 members donate $10 each to help the Davies family, the donations and support kept flowing in.
“People have been donating via PayPal and they’ve organised fundraisers,” Mrs Davies said.
“It’s gone absolutely beyond anything I could ever imagine,” she said.
“I’m so overwhelmed by local people’s generosity.”
Now the Point Cook Expats 2012 have organised a fundraising group called the Point Cook Expats Emergency Fundraising Group to help expats who find themselves in emergency situations.
“When all this is finished and things are back to normal, we are going to host a community BBQ and say thank you and hopefully meet people in person who have contributed and make some new friends too,” Mrs Davies said.
Mrs Davies and her family can now afford their visas and will apply for permanent residency in the coming weeks.
“I don’t think I’ll ever move after this kind of community response.”
To get involved search “Point Cook Expats Emergency Fundraising Group” on Facebook.
