By Noel Murphy
LIFELINE Geelong has been thrown a lifeline as it faced State government funding cuts against rapidly rising calls for help.
Board chair Joe Crosbie said an extra $50,000 a year the agency had received under the previous government was being extended for another 12 months after a scare the money would be withdrawn.
Growing social and financial desperation across Geelong has seen calls to Lifeline climb around 40 per cent to 10,000 pleas annually over the past three years.
Geelong, which shares funding with Warrnambool, unlike other regions, had been told by the Department of Human Services extra cash it received to take up the slack was at risk.
But not sooner had the Independent revealed the looming crisis than Mr Crosbie received notification the extra $50,000 was safe – for the time being.
“We’ve got it for 12 months, not for three years like previously – and we have our standard funding for two years after,” he said.
“It’s a funny sort of arrangement, but we have the extra for another 12 months; that’s the way we read it at moment.
“They sort of recommended we look at some other programs in the mental health area and talk to them to see if we can become part of other services. They blamed the federal government and a drop in Victoria’s GST share but no doors have been closed, which is a good thing.”
Lifeline Geelong has 40 telephone counsellors and another 60 staff working across five shops in Geelong, Drysdale and Colac.
“We’re confident we can stay afloat this year,” Mr Crosbie said.
“We’re not sure what demand is going to be but we’ve got good community support, such as the national motorbike groups’ Black Dog Ride. That money should be coming through in the next three to four weeks. Geelong had about 100 riders and we’re hoping for about $3000 as our percentage.
“Our annual turnover is about $750,000 with about $400,000 to $500,000 from our shops and grants and donations. Our costs are similar and at the moment we’re breaking even thanks to a masssive pick-up in our shops where we changed rosters around and staff made sacrifices when we were bleeding.
“It’s always a bit of challenge but we’re floating, we’re still going and answering a lot of calls.”
