As then End of Financial Year approaches, we invite you to stand alongside some of the world's most vulnerable people.
We are a registered Charity and your donations are tax-deductible. Your donation will help provide shelter, medical care, hygiene supplies, mental health support, and hope to families living through the ongoing crisis in Thai-Myanmar border areas.
Every dollar matters. Every act of kindness matters. And every person deserves to know they have not been forgotten.
Your donation is tax-deductible, and we appreciate your kindness!
Every day, families on the Myanmar border and in internally displaced person (IDP) camps are facing challenges that most of us can barely imagine. Ongoing conflict has forced people from their homes, leaving many without shelter, medical care, food security, or even basic necessities.
At Next Door Refugee Foundation, we do things a little differently.
We are a small organisation with a direct connection to the communities we support. We don't have layers of administration, expensive overheads, or funds disappearing along the way. The money we raise goes directly to helping people on the ground.
We travel to these communities and work closely with trusted local partners who are alongside these families every day. Together, we provide practical support such as emergency shelter items, hygiene packs, medical supplies, and assistance for families who have been displaced by conflict.
But we know that survival is about more than food and shelter.
Alongside our humanitarian aid, we provide mental health and wellbeing support. We sit with people, listen to their stories, offer encouragement, provide education about mental health, and help build resilience and hope in communities that have experienced immense loss and trauma. We believe kindness matters. Human connection matters.
The young girl pictured in this campaign is one example of why this work is so important. She is living with eye cancer and urgently needs medical treatment. Behind every statistic is a real person, a child with dreams, fears, and a family who loves them. Through this campaign, we hope to raise funds to help her access the care she desperately needs, while also continuing to support thousands of others living in refugee camps and displacement settings.
This EOFY, your donation can provide practical help, medical support, dignity, hope, and compassion to people who have lost almost everything.
Thank you for standing with the people of Myanmar.
Together, we can make sure they are not forgotten.
$25 can provide essential hygiene items for a displaced family to prevent disease and poor health.
$50 can help provide emergency supplies for a family forced to flee conflict.
$75 can contribute to medical supplies used by medics helping emergency needs for an injured or unwell person.
$100 can help equip a newly displaced family with sleeping mats and household essentials.
$150 can provide several tarpaulin shelters before the monsoon rains arrive.
$250 can support mental health and wellbeing workshops for vulnerable community members.
$500 can provide essential medicines for the most vulnerable refugees who have little access to medication.
$1,000 can support a community-wide distribution of essential aid.
Mental health support Thai-Myanmar Border 2026
In May 2026, we supported communities on the Thai–Myanmar border through a range of humanitarian and community development initiatives.
We implemented a sewing program for vulnerable adolescents, providing them with the opportunity to learn practical sewing skills. The program was designed to help participants begin developing a sustainable source of income by creating and selling handmade items, supporting their long-term survival and independence.
We also engaged members of the Thai–Myanmar border communities in mental health and wellbeing workshops. These sessions focused on resilience, personal strengths, and values, while encouraging hope, connection, and mutual support during times of hardship.
Through our fundraising efforts, we provided hygiene packs to more than 1,000 vulnerable refugees and displaced people, helping to improve health, dignity, and wellbeing.
In addition, we supported 50 individuals and families who had recently fled their homes due to the ongoing conflict. We assisted them in establishing new homes within Internally Displaced Person (IDP) areas by providing essential items including tarpaulins ahead of the rainy season, sleeping mats, cooking stoves, crockery, hygiene kits, and other household necessities.
The Next Door Refugee Foundation also distributed much-needed medical supplies to frontline medics and health clinics, enabling them to provide care and treatment to vulnerable people who were sick, injured, and in urgent need of support.
Beautiful Handwoven Bags with a Purpose
Discover our beautiful traditional woven bags, lovingly handmade by women in refugee communities in Australia and along the Thai–Myanmar border.
Each bag tells a story of resilience, skill, and cultural heritage. By purchasing one of these unique handcrafted bags, you are directly supporting women living in poverty and helping them earn an income for essential needs such as food, shelter, healthcare, and education for their families.
Your purchase does more than provide financial support—it helps preserve traditional weaving techniques, empowers women to create sustainable livelihoods, and offers hope for a brighter future.
Whether you're treating yourself or searching for a meaningful gift for a friend, these stunning woven bags are both practical and purposeful.
Buy a bag. Support a woman. Change a life.
Cushions for Sale
We are selling Cushions that have been handmade by our Refugee community here in Melbourne - these can be purchased from 10 Bridge St, Werribee
"We are just one part of a greater collective, meeting people at the intersection of struggle and survival, helping to carry hope forward. In the shared effort for change, we walk where hardship is greatest, bringing strength and hope to vulnerable communities.
Refugees living in vulnerable communities on the Thai/ Myanmar border simply cannot access the medical services they desperately need.
YOU can help!
We donated jackets to a group of refugee students, providing not only warmth and protection from the cold but also a sense of unity and belonging. For many of these young people, whose parents are not nearby or who have lost their parents, the jackets became more than just clothing — they symbolised care, solidarity, and the reminder that they are not alone. Wearing them together created a shared identity and comfort, helping to foster resilience and connection in the face of loss and displacement.
We also provided food and hygiene supplies to support 120 people and families in the refugee camp, ensuring that essential needs were met during a difficult time. Alongside these practical donations, we spent time with community members, sharing conversations that offered care, connection, and emotional support. These moments of listening and encouragement were as valuable as the supplies themselves, reminding people that their voices matter and that they are not alone.
In September 2025, we delivered mental health training to more than 90 teachers, health workers, volunteers, and pastors serving refugee communities along the border. Every day, these teachers guide students who carry the weight of losing their homeland and, in many cases, their parents—children who have witnessed violence and trauma and now struggle to learn in the face of overwhelming hardship. Health workers and volunteers provide care for patients living with severe mental illness, trauma histories, and even the loss of limbs, meeting challenges that test both skill and compassion.
To strengthen their work, we created mental health workbooks in both Burmese and English, equipping participants with knowledge of common mental health presentations, practical strategies, and therapeutic interventions. We also introduced bilingual picture cards to spark conversation, allowing people to name emotions, recognise body sensations, share their strengths, and practise self-care. Each group of participants kept their set of cards, ensuring these tools will continue to support students and patients long after the training—small, lasting reminders that healing begins with understanding and connection.
When the Lights Go Out… the story of Hser Meh
“I never know if tonight will be the night we sit in darkness. The electricity comes and goes, the wires in our dormitory buzzing faintly before they fall silent again. When the bulbs flicker out, we gather around one candle, the shadows stretching across the walls. I pretend it doesn’t matter, but inside I wonder how long before even the candles are gone. Each flame feels like a treasure we cannot waste.
I am 16 years old, trying to stay focused on my studies, but it is difficult when every day brings back memories I wish I could forget. Two years ago, soldiers came to our village. I still hear the echo of boots and shouting, the smell of smoke clinging to the air. My older brother disappeared that night. Some say he ran to the jungle, others that he was taken. I do not know which story is true. My mother fled as well, and I have not seen her since. Sometimes I dream of her face, and it fades before I wake.
This month the rains have turned the ground outside our dormitory into thick mud. The well we share is cloudy, the water tasting of rust and soil. We line up with buckets anyway, because we have no choice.
Still, there are people who come to visit us — teachers, volunteers, strangers who bring small supplies. Sometimes they bring soap or notebooks, sometimes just their words of encouragement. I know they don’t have much themselves, but they look at us with kindness, and that gives me strength.
I think often about what it means to survive this. Why children like us must live with hunger, with loss, with the ache of families scattered across borders. For me, education is the only way forward. It is the lantern I hold in the dark, even when the light goes out. But it is hard to study when your body is tired, when your heart carries fear, when every day begins with uncertainty.
We need food. We need clean water. We need safety and a chance to learn. Without help, students like me risk losing not only our education, but our hope for tomorrow.”
A group of students joined us for a hands-on session where creativity flowed through art and craft activities.
Together, we explored colour, texture, and design as a way to express ideas and emotions.
The activities encouraged playfulness, self-expression, and collaboration among the group.
By the end, each student had created something unique, reflecting their own story and imagination.
We coordinated medical donations to support the health department within the refugee camp, strengthening essential care services.
In Melbourne, two refugees from Myanmar were busily making flowers (from pipecleaners) and weaving baskets. Multiple of these were sold and the money was used to send directly to purchase the items for the internally displaced people on the border.
Thanks so much for all your help!
Next Door Refugee Foundation is a registered Charity based in Melbourne.
Here, the Karen and Karenni refugees from Myanmar bring to life their creativity, make connections and display amazing resilience.
Our mission is to foster a true sense of belonging for Karen and Karenni refugees who have fled the conflict in Myanmar. Through creative expression, cultural preservation, and meaningful community connection, we support them as they rebuild their lives, honour their heritage, and find healing and hope in their new home.
Fostering traditional crafts and creations.
Many of these refugees come from a life deeply rooted in the hills and jungles of Myanmar, where survival was a way of life. They lived off the land, using traditional skills passed down through generations—farming, weaving, woodworking, and foraging—techniques that sustained their families and defined their identity. But war and displacement tore them away from everything they knew, leaving them in a world where their hands, once skilled in survival, felt empty.
Through our program, they are not just reconnecting with these lost traditions—they are reclaiming their sense of purpose. By sharing their skills and contributing to their new community in Australia, they find dignity, belonging, and the fulfillment of knowing that what they create, grow, and build matters. This is more than just a program; it is a way for them to heal, to feel valued, and to weave the threads of their past into a hopeful future.
Karen and Karenni refugees meeting for a craft and art group each week, for wellbeing, connection and exploring creativity.
The Next Door Refugee Foundation provides a therapeutic environment for Karen and Karenni refugees in Australia to participate in various forms of art, craft, woodwork, weaving and gardening.
These products are then sold to assist with funding for essential services within the refugee camps along the Thai/Myanmar border.
Lavender heatpacks, a wall of love, handcreams and various handicrafts made by the refugees in Melbourne to raise money for the crisis in Myanmar and Thailand refugee camps.
Together we can help those who are less fortunate with essential services and immediate need.
Sign up to hear more about what we are doing towards this cause and how you may be able to participate or help in the work that is being done.
