Your guide to uplifting activities that’ll raise food and funds to help take hunger off the table for vulnerable Victorians.
Welcome!
Thanks so much for getting your parish on board to raise food and funds as part of our FoodBoost campaign this year.
I’m delighted that you’ve decided to participate. Your wonderful commitment is going to help take hunger off the table of people and families who are struggling to survive as the cost of living continues to skyrocket.
With a long and strong history of parish support with emergency relief, our services need your support more than ever before. Recently Paul McDonald, Anglicare Victoria’s CEO, told me that more people and families than ever before are coming to our emergency relief centres in crisis. Alarmingly, people are often having to choose between paying bills and feeding themselves or their children.
That’s why the food and funds you raise this winter are so important. However, if you’d like to extend this initiative throughout the year, that would be wonderful as well.
With the help of you and your team, we’ll be able to stock our pantries and keep our food vans full and on-the-road, so when hungry people come to us, we’ll have the food they need.
You already know this is a vitally important cause, the food and fundraising activities your parish undertakes is a demonstration of faith in action! This booklet is designed to help with ideas to get you into the FoodBoost spirit.
Wishing you and the parish well - and don’t forget to share all your activities with our community on social media.
#AVFoodBoost #BetterTogether #TakeHungerOffTheTable
Warmest regards,
Paula Gething Senior Manager, Fundraising and Philanthropy
The power of parish partnerships
We celebrate the 111 parishes that already actively support Anglicare Victoria, with over 67 supporting our emergency relief centres with food and goods all year round.
We deeply appreciate the efforts of parishioners whose fundraising, collections and volunteering supports our services helping to provide essentials to the most vulnerable families and people throughout Victoria.
anglicarevic
@anglicarevictoria
anglicare-victoria
We’d love more parishes to join together in support of vulnerable children, young people and families who reach out to Anglicare Victoria in their time of need.
You’re helping to take hunger off the table for people like Marlena*
Sole-parent Marlena can usually make ends meet from payday to payday, but things began to unravel recently when all three of her children came down with the flu and two needed to go to hospital.
Like the vast majority of people who come to Anglicare Victoria for help, Marlena had no safety net and no savings. The cost of medication, along with the petrol she needed to travel back and forth to the hospital meant Marlena was stretched beyond her limits and had no money left over to buy food. That’s when she turned to us.
“The family was at a point where they had nothing,” recounts Jessica, who worked with Marlena at one of our nine emergency relief centres. “It wasn’t even a choice of who will eat – Marlena or the kids. They had no food for the next day.”
Thanks to our generous supporters, we were able to provide Marlena with a food parcel, supermarket vouchers and petrol vouchers to see her through this difficult time.
“I was so relieved to get that help,” says Marlena. “That food meant my kids could eat that week, and I could eat. I don’t know what I would have done without it.”
*Name and identifying details have been changed to protect identity. Image is representative only.
Quickstart guide:
1
Sign up
Let us know your parish is joining the network of caring schools, businesses and parishes across Victoria participating in FoodBoost during May and June. Register and download helpful resources at: www.anglicarevic.org.au/foodboost
Spread the word
Put up your FoodBoost poster; consider a sermon or discussion group that gives parishioners an insight into the food insecurity that thousands of Victorian families will face this winter and how raising food and funds will help; see food and fundraising ideas in this booklet or create your own events and activities; engage your parish committee and send out emails to parishioners and community partners; put an article in your newsletter to get people involved. Your prayers are also powerful, and your kind support through faithful prayer is vital to all we do at Anglicare Victoria.
Start food and fundraising!
Ensure parishioners know what events are happening, how to get involved and which day/s to bring donations.
2 3 4
Spread your good news
Announce your results to the parish, and let them know how their time and effort will help people in need across Victoria this winter.
Faith in action
With the support of compassionate people like you we can take hunger off the table for more people in need this winter.
To help get your parish inspired to take action, we’ve put together a few food-raising ideas. Feel free to adapt and change them to suit your congregation and community. You may even like to run tried-and-tested events your parish loves or direct the proceeds of one of your usual activities to FoodBoost.
Archbishop Philip Freier, along with Tony Sheumack, Chair of Anglicare Victoria launched this year’s ‘Take Hunger off the Table” winter appeal at Bishopscourt on a drizzly April Melbourne morning.
It was also an opportunity to launch our new, custom-fitted AV Aid van that will travel across Victoria to deliver vital food to people in need, helping us respond to the growing need for emergency relief across the state.
Tony Sheumack and Archbishop Freier both encouraged the broader community to support people ‘doing it tough’ this year by donating food or funds to stock the AV Aid van and Anglicare Victoria’s emergency relief pantries.
“I encourage Anglican parishes and parishioners to stand together as an act of faith, to support the increased number of families and people seeking assistance from emergency relief services,” said Archbishop Freier.
We sincerely hope you will join us in compassionate action this winter.
Food Drive
Ask parishioners to contribute food items selected from our ‘Most needed items’ list.
It can be as simple as setting up a collection box in your church, or your parishioners and their families might like to get creative and ‘Can the Chapel’ by stacking food cans to create mazes or walls of food. You may also like to engage the community by going doorto-door to collect food or set up a donation stand outside a local supermarket (or two) and ask for food donations (see St Hilary’s Hope story below). No matter which way you go, the more food you collect, the more you’ll be helping people to make it through their toughest times.
St Hilary’s Hope
Record-breaking food drive
St Hilary’s Church in Kew is one of Anglicare Victoria’s long-standing parish partners who’ve collected food to support our emergency relief centres for over 25 years.
The parish began with a collection box by the church entrance, then started an annual food drive that saw volunteers going from door-to-door collecting food donations in the local area.
Rice
Most needed items
Instant coffee
Spreads (peanut butter, jam, Vegemite)
Canned fish (tuna/salmon)
Crackers (dry biscuits)
Sweet 2-minutebiscuitsnoodles
Pasta
Cannedsauce meat (Spam or meat stews)
Canned soup (or pouches)
Pasta
UHT long-life milk / non-dairy milk
Breakfast cereal
Tinned fruit (or fruit cups)
Condiments (tomato sauce, soy sauce, mustard)
Canned vegetables (tinned tomatoes, potatoes, corn, mixed vegetables)
Snacks for adults and/or children (muesli bars, nuts, chips)
More recently St Hilary’s has been holding a one day event where parishioners work alongside volunteers from local schools to collect food donations from generous shoppers at local supermarkets. “This year we covered 13 supermarkets – that’s almost every supermarket in Boroondara – and we had more than 150 volunteers on the day,” says Mike Urwin, who manages St Hilary’s Hope, which oversees St Hilary’s fundraising efforts.
Donations are transported to St Hilary’s Church where they’re packed into individual bags. “This year we got more than 25,000 items which we packed into around 2,000 bags” says Mike.
Fundraising inspiration
Fundraising is vitally important to help us provide essentials to people in need in Victoria.
We simply couldn’t provide the level of support we do without the funds raised by generous parishes like yours.
Take a little inspiration from these fundraising ideas or consult your parish to develop ideas that’ll get them excited to raise vital funds and help ease the burden for vulnerable people this winter.
Talking about the issues
Do your parishioners want to learn more about food insecurity in Australia?
Contact Anglicare Victoria and we can organise a guest speaker to visit your parish or youth group to give an insight into the issues facing Australians, and how we can take action together to create meaningful change. You may like to serve refreshments, or turn the event into a luncheon to add a social element. To raise funds, set a ticket price for the event, ask for a donation to attend or pass the collection plate around on the day.
Share a meal
There’s nothing like sharing a meal.
Bring this idea to life by holding a lunch (or dinner) function. Ask each person to pay for their meal and donate the equivalent amount of money to FoodBoost, and (in spirit) share that meal with someone in need.
Bake sale Food Collections
Hold a bake sale or fete where community members can purchase delicious treats and handicrafts created by your parishioners.
Sell items and ask for donations too, your customers will tap into their generosity when they understand the FoodBoost cause.
Make it simple for parishioners with a ‘themed’ monthly call to action in your parish Pew Sheet.
Suggested themes - refer to our “most needed items” shopping list on the previous page for inspiration.
FAQs
What types of food should we collect?
We have included a handy shopping list of the most needed items. Remember, that all donations must be non-perishable and not require refrigeration. With funds raised Anglicare Victoria will buy fresh fruit and vegetables to supplement this.
Do you have drop-off locations, or can you collect from our parish?
Yes we do have drop-off locations and would be most grateful for this extra effort! We are also happy to pick up from your parish location for larger donations. Please contact us to arrange drop-off or pick-up.
How should we store the food we collect? Are paper bags ok?
Green supermarket bags or re-usable plastic bags are preferred. Cardboard boxes and crates are easy to move (we will return any plastic crates you use). Paper bags often can’t hold the weight of your generosity!
Need help?
Can friends help? How?
Yes they can! They can spread the FoodBoost word to their workplaces and social groups. We desperately need drivers to help us collect the food. Contact us for more information.
We want to donate to Anglicare Victoria. How can our parish arrange that?
Go to: anglicarevic.org.au/foodboost
OR
Call 1800 809 722
We want to help by volunteering. How do we find out more?
Go to: anglicarevic.org.au/get-involved/volunteering
We’re here to answer all your FoodBoost questions –no matter how big or small. Please contact:
Penny Mitchell Relationship Manager Corporate & Schools Partnerships
P: 03 9412 6168
E: partnerships@anglicarevic.org.au
For more information and downloadable resources visit: www.anglicarevic.org.au/foodboost
Thank you. Your parish will help to feed the most vulnerable people in our state this winter.
