A Shield for the Vulnerable: Why the Red Shield Appeal Still Matters
In an age of digital donations and fast-moving headlines, the Red Shield Appeal remains steadfast. Not because it’s tradition, but because the need it meets is as real, raw, and urgent as ever.
Launched today in Canberra, the 2025 Red Shield Appeal is more than a fundraising campaign. It’s a living embodiment of something much deeper: the belief that no one should be left to navigate crisis alone.
More Than a Symbol
To most Australians, the image of the red shield stitched onto a navy uniform is familiar. It’s on the street corner during winter. It’s in the background of emergency broadcasts during floods or fires. It’s at the door when a woman escapes her home in the middle of the night with nothing but a child in her arms.
This image isn’t branding, it’s belonging. It signals a promise: that someone will show up, even in your darkest hour.
Her Excellency the Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn AC the Governor-General, in her address launching this year’s appeal, captured it simply: “Care is not soft. It is demanding. It is accountable. And it is essential.” The Red Shield Appeal exists to uphold this kind of care. The kind that feeds families, shelters women and children, helps jobseekers find work, and holds space for those experiencing trauma. Last year alone, the Salvation Army provided:
Over 1 million nights of accommodation
Meals to 140,000 people
Support to 30,000 job seekers
Over $6 million in disaster recovery aid
And in Canberra? Approximately 1,780 people are experiencing homelessness, with an unmet housing need of 5,300 dwellings. And many individuals accessing emergency relief services have as little as $8 left per week after covering essential expenses like housing and groceries. [Source: Social Justice Stocktake 2025 - The Salvation Army Australia]
But those numbers don’t tell you what it feels like to be on the receiving end. That’s why today’s keynote from Leonie, a survivor of domestic violence, was so important.
Leonie’s Story: From Survival to Strength
When Leonie stood to speak, she didn’t offer statistics. She offered her story. And in doing so, she offered something even more powerful than evidence, she offered lived truth.
Her story began the way too many do: with a slow erosion of safety. Isolation. Control. Financial abuse. Fear. What followed were years of escalation, emotional, psychological, and physical abuse, until it nearly cost her her life. Leaving wasn’t a moment. It was a series of impossibly brave decisions. Each one harder than the last. And each one made harder by the fact that starting over doesn’t just require courage. It requires resources.
That’s where the Salvos stepped in.
“I didn’t even have a bed,” she said quietly. “The Salvation Army gave me one. But they gave me more than that, they gave me my life back.”
With casework that lasted nearly a decade, trauma-informed counselling, essential household items, and wraparound support, Leonie was able to rebuild not just her living conditions, but her sense of self. She now owns her home. Her daughter is thriving. And she’s no longer silenced by shame.
Instead, she chose today, this room, this moment, to speak. To advocate. And to donate $300 of her own money, specifically earmarked for another woman escaping violence.
Because she knows what it’s like to need that shield. She knows the power that $300 had on the day she needed it to purchase essential items and groceries the day she escaped with nothing.
Why the Red Shield Appeal Still Matters
It’s tempting to believe that in 2025, we’ve come far enough as a society that no one falls through the cracks. But as the Salvation Army’s own Social Justice Stocktake shows, those cracks are widening:
Mental health systems are stretched.
Housing insecurity is rising, particularly among women over 55.
Food insecurity is no longer confined to the unemployed, working families are now skipping meals.
Financial hardship and exclusion continue to trap people in cycles of disadvantage.
And these aren’t isolated issues. They’re interconnected. You can’t fix housing without addressing mental health. You can’t improve financial inclusion without tackling systemic discrimination. You can’t build belonging without offering dignity. The Salvos have always understood this. That’s why their support is never “one-size-fits-all.” It’s layered, long-term, and local. It recognises that people don’t need to be “saved” they need to be supported in ways that honour their humanity.
That philosophy is what makes the Red Shield Appeal more than charity. It’s community infrastructure. Quiet, reliable, powerful.
A Challenge to All of Us
As the Governor-General reminded us, we’re living in a time when the demand for support is growing, but the pool of volunteers is shrinking. The pandemic disrupted our culture of service. And now, as we rebuild, we need to ask ourselves: what kind of society are we choosing to become?
Ms Mostyn put it best when she reflected on the values guiding her term: care, kindness, and respect. Not as sentiment, but as responsibility. As action.
Care is not just about helping someone. It’s about being willing to witness their pain. To sit in the hard places with them. To stay long enough to see hope return.
That’s what the Red Shield Appeal enables. It doesn’t swoop in and solve everything. It shows up early, stays late, and never treats anyone as a number.
And that’s something we can all be part of.
What You Can Do
The power of this campaign lies not in a single donation, but in the collective effort of people choosing to care. Choosing to act. Here’s how you can help:
Donate to the Red Shield Appeal. Every dollar funds frontline support—from meals and crisis housing to job programs and counselling.
Volunteer for local doorknocks or community events. Your presence matters.
Listen and learn. Share stories like Leonie’s. Advocate for better systems. Challenge stigma.
Encourage others to do the same. Caring is contagious.
And if you’ve ever thought, “What difference could I make?” remember this: someone like Leonie might be waiting for a knock at the door. Not because she wants to be rescued, but because she deserves to be seen.
There are few things in life more powerful than showing up. Not just when it’s easy or visible or applauded, but when it’s hard. When someone’s world has fallen apart. When hope is dim.
The Red Shield Appeal is about more than raising money. It’s about raising one another. It’s a shield not made of steel, but of solidarity.
And today, in the heart of Canberra, that shield was raised once again.
For Leonie.
For every woman who still hasn’t found her voice.
For every person standing on the edge, unsure if anyone will catch them.
The Red Shield is here.
And so are we.
To learn more about how to Get Involved visit: https://www.salvationarmy.org.au/get-involved/
