Armidale Sanctuary Settlement Support was presented with the 2022 Humanitarian Award in the Rural and Regional category.

The award acknowledged the contribution Sanctuary members have made to assisting refugees.

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The Humanitarian Awards are presented annually by STARTTS, the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors, and the Refugee Council of Australia.

Jeff Siegel, President of the Armidale Sanctuary, collected the award on Tuesday, July 5, at Government House, Sydney, where the awards were presented by by the NSW Governor, Her Excellency Margaret Beazley.

"It is always a special honour to host the NSW Humanitarian Awards at Government House, recognising those individuals and organisations who, through their tireless efforts supporting refugees and asylum seekers in our community, exemplify values vital to the well-being of our State: compassion, inclusivity, and looking out for each other," the Governor said.

Armidale Sanctuary has been supporting refugees since 2003.

Between 2003 and 2009 the not-for-profit organisation sponsored people for settlement in Armidale, raising funds for their visas and fares.

New arrivals were met at the airport and supported with all their settlement needs.

Armidale Sanctuary's efforts were instrumental in Armidale becoming a refugee settlement city in 2017.

As a result, more than 600 refugees from the Ezidi community in Northern Iraq settled here.

The refugees and their families started arriving in Armidale in 2018, with 100 people to start with, followed by more in the following months.

Armidale Sanctuary has more than 239 members of whom 215 are volunteers helping families, children and adults to overcome settlement difficulties.

Sanctuary members assist by visiting families and helping with understanding written material, negotiating services and appointments, and even shopping.

The group's leadership and volunteers also respond to refugee needs, with initiatives like the home reading program which seeks to alleviate educational disadvantage by providing children with language and homework support to succeed in school.

The group continues to help by undertaking fundraising activities, most recently to enable a refugee, indefinitely detained on Nauru, to settle in Canada.

Sanctuary Armidale works closely with many service and support organisations assisting people from refugee backgrounds.