Hunter charity calls for safety net rethink as number of families seeking help 'triples' in a year

We Care Connect volunteer Leasa Rutherford and manager Sarah Lundgren sort and prepare back-to-school kits for Hunter families struggling under intense cost of living pressures. Picture by Jonathan Carroll

A volunteer-run charity organisation that helps struggling local families with back-to-school costs has doubled demand for its services in the past year.

We Care Connect, a community support service that started on the Central Coast in 2016 when a group of local parents began collecting and donating their children's clothes and shoes as they grew out of them, moved into the Hunter in September 2022.