Our Organisation

GRC originally commenced operations in 1984 as the Geraldton Emergency Relief Organisation (GERO) and at that time GERO provided:

A low cost food centre.
A low cost furniture centre.
Emergency relief funding.

In 1991 GERO having expanded its services was renamed the Geraldton Resource Centre Inc. GRC relocated to Lotteries House, Geraldton and has remained at this location within the CBD of Geraldton since that time.

Today GRC remains a non-profit organisation providing services to people experiencing disadvantage in the Mid West and Gascoyne regions of WA. Towns within these regions experience hardship due to long term drought, lack of employment opportunities, housing shortages and the rising costs of living such as basic food items and fuel prices. Most communities within our service area have a regional price index between 4 - 8% higher than that of the Perth metropolitan area, a situation that is generating increased strain on families and communities already experiencing hardship.

Our organisation has expanded rapidly since 1998 and today includes 14 individual and diverse services with up to 31 full time staff and over 25 volunteers working to provide our community with access to information, advice and support. GRC’s outreach service area extends from Geraldton north to Exmouth (838kms), south to Leeman (153kms) and east to Meekatharra (535kms). This area is about the size of the United Kingdom in terms of land mass.

We have a strong history of advocacy and law reform and we are or have been participants within several associations and networks including;

National Association of Community Legal Centres
Financial Counsellors Association
National Network of Indigenous Women’s Legal Services
Women’s Legal Services Network
WA Tenancy Network
Mid West Emergency Relief Network
Western Australia Council of Social Services (WACOSS)
Mid West Community Services Network (MWCSN)

GRC has also been recognised for its commitment and high standard of service delivery to clients by winning several awards 2 of which are the;

Australian Training Awards 2005
Prime Minister’s Small Business of the Year Award and
Western Australian Training Excellence Awards 2005
2005 Australian Institute of Management
Small Business of the Year Award