A refugee charity was robbed - and now they need our help.

Someone robbed a refugee and asylum seeker charity. But they took more than just a trailer.

Last week, someone used bolt-cutters to break into the grounds of our Welcome Centre in Adelaide, South Australia and steal the trailer we use to deliver donated furniture, white goods and other basic needs to asylum seekers living in our community.

Unable to legally work, and facing many other financial and social challenges, we find many of our friends surviving in homes without fridges, beds, couches and unable to afford many of the other comforts most of us take for granted.

Setting aside, for a moment, the disappointment our volunteers feel at the thought that someone would so intentionally rob a charity in this way, it’s families, young people and children that bear the brunt of this kind of selfishness.

We arrived at one house last winter where a family with absolutely nothing was sleeping on Ikea throw-rugs on non-carpeted floors – including their one-year-old baby.

After putting the word out to our supporters, we were able to quickly deliver donated mattresses, beds, a cot, fridge, couches, bed linen and kitchenware for them. Nearly a year later, they invited some of our volunteers over for dinner, brought out crockery to serve them and said, “this was from you” – and our volunteers soon discovered they’d donated some of our original gifts to other asylum seekers they’d met who were doing it even tougher than them.

Read more: This five year old has put your last charity fun-run to shame.

We’ve provided desks and computers for students to help with their study; washing machines and more – with fridges, beds, carpets and lounges being the most common needs.

Welcome Centre volunteers are right now working to source carpets, rugs and furniture – and now a trailer to deliver them on – for another family, including an infant who is starting learn how to crawl in a house with raw, splintered floorboards.

We’re hoping that whoever cut our padlock and stole our trailer is just moving house and returns it forthwith. It’s insured, but there’s an excess that we need to cover and it was custom-built (and donated by a brilliant film production company in Adelaide), so in the meantime we’re hiring and borrowing trailers to make sure no families miss out when generous people donate the home furnishings they need.

Read more: Meet the cheeky nannas baring all for charity.

If you’re able to support our work not only would it be a big encouragement to our army of volunteers, but it would make an immediate difference to the lives of families and children who’ve endured enough in their flight from persecution and time in onshore and offshore detention facilities.

If you can help, please visit https://www.givenow.com.au/thewelcomecentre and write “trailer” in the reference line. All donations are tax deductible and go directly to this important work of The Welcome Centre.