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FareShare volunteer Sandy Dudakov wins inaugural Premier's Volunteering Leadership Award
At a ceremony at the Melbourne Museum on Saturday December 5 Premier John Brumby presented our very own Sandy Dudakov with an award celebrating her exceptional volunteer leadership skills and achievements.
This was the first year of the Premier’s Community Volunteering Awards, introduced to acknowledge the many organisations and individuals that are achieving amazing things in their communities.
FareShare nominated for two of the four categories, and was short listed for both – quite an achievement in itself, considering that we were up against more than 200 other entrants!
At that time, 20 volunteers were sourcing and picking up donated food from local traders. They worked one shift a week in a shared kitchen, and gave the meals they prepared to the Salvation Army.
Sandy quickly recognised the potential of the fledgling organisation and the difference that it could make – including the pleasure that it gave the volunteers – and has been a driving force behind FareShare’s growth ever since.
Premier John Brumby visits FareShare's kitchen
Victorian Premier John Brumby visited our kitchen during the last week of FareShare and Leader's Feed Melbourne campaign to encourage people to donate.
While he was working the quiche line, the Premier accounced that his Government through its Community Support Fund would donate $45,000 towards the campaign which guarantees every cent donated by the public, businesses and philanthropic foundations will be given to local food charities to help them give away more food to the growing number of people who are doing it tough.
In its first year, Feed Melbourne has raised over $250,000 for local food charities so far. While the Visy and Pratt Foundation made an incredibly generous donation of $100,000 to kick start the campaign, the majority of the money donated has come from members of the public. Melbourne restaurant chain Groove Chain has also been a big supporter donating 50 cents from every main course meal ordered at its five restaurants during the three month campaign.
To view a video of the Premier's visit click here.
Feed Melbourne's singles night makes 7,000 meals for charities
Mixing 200 single people with 1.5 tonnes of vegetables, 450 kilos of pastry and 750 kilos of fillings on Wednesday 2 September proved a recipe for success, producing 7,000 meals to feed hungry and homeless people in Melbourne.
The Feed Melbourne singles night was an event that gave people the opportunity to find partner while making a big difference to the hungry and homeless of
Feed
Single Volunteers was created by Melina Schamroth, Founder and CEO of m.a.d.woman. Schamroth joined forces with charity FareShare 18 months ago to run Cooking for a Cause events for singles which are now held weekly. On Wednesday 2 September the team of more than 200 heterosexual singles aged 25- 45, heterosexual singles aged over 45 and homosexual singles chopped and chatted their way through:
- 600kg sweet potatoes
- 600kg sweet potatoes
- 300 kg carrots
- 450 kg pastry
- 350 kg sausage roll mix
- 400 kg pie mix
- 100 dozen eggs
Fare Share CEO Marcus Godinho said the event far exceeded expectations. “If we did this regularly we would make enough meals so that people didn’t go hungry in
Schamroth said the positive feedback had been overwhelming. “People not only had an opportunity to find friendship or love, they all walked away knowing they had made an amazing difference to people who really needed help”.
Participant Helen Kaptain said the event was a really fun way to meet other people while contributing to Feed Melbourne.
Fellow participant Glenn McIvor said the event was fantastic. “It achieved spectacular results in feeding the needy and bringing a lot of like-minded people together in having fun”.
People who missed out on the event can still take part in Cooking for a Cause at FareShare in
Leading Chefs join Feed Melbourne
On Wednesday 19 August a number of Melbourne’s top chefs made soup which were served up to the public from soup vans in Federation Square from 5pm. Picture gallery from the event.
It was part of our efforts to raise awareness of hunger in greater Melbourne and raise funds for the many local charities that help people in their communities. It was part of our Feed Melbourne campaign.
Some of the chefs and restaurants taking place included:
1. Ian Curley, European
2. John Savage, Sofitel: making Sweetcorn velouté with smoked chicken and basil
3. Bistro Vue: French Onion Soup
4. Dallas Cuddy, Verge Restaurant
5. Holly Richmond, Sarti restaurant
6. Andrew Blake, Blakes restaurant: Lamb Harira.
7. Mo Vida restaurant
8. Matthew MacCartney, Chateau Yering
9. Pierre Khodja, Canvas Restaurant: Chorba Bissara
10. The Deanery
11. Botega Restaurant
12. Orange café
Heinz is also providing soup for the event.
We hope to see you down there for a warm cuppa.
Victorians reaching out to Feed Melbourne
Experts believe 370,000 Victorians will run out of food at some point this year and be unable to afford their next meal. The Feed Melbourne appeal, a joint initiative of FareShare, Leader Community Newspapers and Do Something, is a new local drive designed to help Victorians suffering from food insecurity.
Feed Melbourne aims to raise $1 million in public donations in just 3 months, from June to September, with the money being awarded to charities providing regular meals to those most in need across Melbourne and regional Victoria.
Feed Melbourne aims to:
· raise funds to support existing charities to store and distribute fresh food;
· raise awareness of the growing number of Victorians who are facing food insecurity; and
· demonstrate the enormous amount of fresh and edible food that is wasted or disposed of each year - food that could be given to those in need.
All of the $1 million raised by Feed Melbourne will go to charities to equip them with items such as vans, fridges and freezers to increase their ability to collect, store and distribute donated food. Any interested charities are invited to apply for a $10,000 Feed Melbourne award.
“Young people, single parents, low income families, the elderly, refugees, migrants and the homeless are most at risk of food insecurity”, said Dr Beverley Wood of the Victorian Local Governance Association. This is backed up by Community Indicators Victoria research showing that one in 10 Victorians are malnourished, go hungry or feel anxious because they cannot consistently afford or gain access to healthy and safe food.
The idea of a concerted campaign across Melbourne came to Toni Hetherington Leader’s Editor-in-Chief, after one of her Leader newspapers got behind a local food charity last year, helping it raise $10,000 from readers. Having demonstrated the power of the local press to encourage local community action, Ms Hetherington then contacted FareShare CEO Marcus Godinho, who explained the frustrating bottleneck caused by many charities not having the capacity to handle all the food that FareShare could provide to them.
“It’s in times like these when communities can pull together and make a real difference in people’s lives,” said Ms Hetherington. “With the public embracing the Feed Melbourne appeal with their donations, we can put food on the tables of thousands of people who may otherwise go hungry.”
“The growing number of people in Victoria going without food is largely hidden, but enormously crippling, especially in winter. One of the best things Feed Melbourne can do is help charities financially by increasing their capacity to receive more food donations and hand out more meals,” said Mr Godinho.
“Some charities we deal with regularly just can’t handle the volumes of food we could organise for them, because they simply can’t store it or distribute it – this is a terribly frustrating situation for us all, but we can pull together to change it.”
The recession is affecting people’s ability to put food on the table, said Do Something’s John Dee. “Hard-working Australians are finding themselves out of a job and unable to feed their families, while at the same time so much good food is being wasted. This is why we’ve come together to launch Feed Melbourne. We can’t sit by and do nothing while our fellow Australians go hungry, and we have the means to change that,” Mr Dee said.
Feed Melbourne patron Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, who recently celebrated her 100th birthday, is known for her generous support of a host of Victorian food charities over many years.
The Feed Melbourne campaign kicked off with an incredibly generous donation of $100,000 from the Pratt Foundation and Visy. "We think Feed Melbourne can change the map of hunger in this city. And, yes, all too many people just don't get enough to eat. The Pratt Foundation has had, and certainly the late Richard Pratt had, a long-standing interest in supporting food programs,” Pratt Foundation CEO Sam Lipski said.
Donations to Feed Melbourne are tax deductible and can be made online at:
www.FeedMelbourne.com.au, in person at any NAB branch or by calling (03) 9875 8383.
Picture gallery from the event.
FareShare shouts lunch for 1400 hungry players and volunteers at Homeless World Cup!
In December, homeless people from around the world converged in Melbourne for the 2008 Homeless World Cup. FareShare donated and provided lunches and snacks for 1,400 athletes and volunteers each day, from 1 -7 December.
Fareshare provided around 10,000 meals for athletes and volunteers. “It was a massive undertaking and all went smoothly”, reported Production Manager Julien Jane.
“A big thanks to the 350 FareShare volunteers who worked tirelessly to provide food for the week. One hundred and forty were on site at the Homeless World Cup to give out food, and 210 worked in our kitchen to prepare food”, she said.
We also thank the 40 Melbourne businesses that donated perfect, surplus food that would otherwise have gone to landfill, to enable us to support the Homeless World Cup. It is estimated that more than 20 tonnes was saved from landfill.
We also saved the event organisers, The Big Issue, an estimated $80,000 in catering costs.
Read more in our press release
Have a look at some pictures from the week.
