MY TIME VOLUNTEERING AT THE PANTRY (AKA- Bk2Basics)As my commitment to work with local charities to support the community and see how Rotary can assist, I contacted and offered my assistance to a local charity that I’ve supported in various ways over the last year or two but could never actually go down to help in person, since I’ve been working full time and not able to have time off to do this. So when my current job gave me a rostered day off, I jumped at the chance to assist them for a day and see how it all works.
BK2Basics can be found in Vesper Driver Narre Warren and is currently restricted (Lockdown 4) to 3 volunteers per day. Not only do the volunteers need to fill up and put out food throughout the opening times, they need to ask the public coming in if they require fresh milk, yoghurt and Beef ravioli (which was special for the day available), clean any spills, but also keep an eye on people not taking more than the limits allowed.
Upon arrival, I am temperature checked and immediately need to hand sanitise and put gloves on. I then assist by working through all the fresh vegetables and fruit that has been donated to place them out on shelves in small crates and throw out anything that is not suitable for consumption. There wasn’t much that had been donated in the morning and the ladies I met, Tracey, Rene and Sharon, tell me its going to be a very quiet day as there just isn’t enough food for the people that are going to come in.
They then show me boxes and boxes of multi-coloured chocolate-coated little buttons that need to be decanted into sandwich bags for the public to pick one bag up. I can tell you each sandwich bag takes about 3 coffee cups worth of these. One box of these takes about 24 sandwich bags and you must be careful not to spill them out, when closing the zip bags.
Just before 10 am, the first person is waiting outside the roller door wanting to be temperature checked, ID card checked and noted down. The charity has had to create an ID card for everyone with a photo, to stop people coming in multiple times and double or triple dipping and to ensure everyone has a chance to receive and pick food items they need.
What I witnessed was for the first hour, all people that came through were Seniors who were very friendly and very appreciative of the assistance that they were receiving. The rest of the time the people coming in were of various ages and included quite a few immigrants as well.
What I saw was that the volunteers were friendly and helpful to everyone that came in and it made me feel great that I could be a small part of the day to assist them where I could. At lunchtime I went out and got us all coffee and some nibbles to snack on. There really is no downtime,so someone is usually leaving to go grab some coffees, while the rest of them are doing other things. They did tell me that lots of coffee drop-offs would be very helpful and appreciated by them 😊.
At about 1 pm, Tracey (who is in charge for the day) calls and speaks to the owner of the Charity and explains that there simply isn’t enough food, so we had to close for the day. Before we do though, we clean everywhere and ensure that anything requiring refrigeration is placed in the chill room and that signs are placed outside to indicate that The Pantry is closed and a message is put up on Facebook and Instagram, to let everyone who follows them know of the development of the day.From what I saw, they need assistance in decanting bigger quantities in to small manageable bags and they need donations of fresh food, gloves, masks, containers. They prepare and deliver meals to the city for the homeless, who are now housed in hotels because of COVID-19 and they also offer food on Wednesday evenings from their own house (they had to stop at Hampton Park due to restrictions). Extra Pallet Shelving would be very helpful in the warehouse next to the Pantry to enable pallets to be lifted from the floor, allowing easier access to items that need to be decanted or placed onto shelves in the Pantry.
They do not receive any government help or funding and could do with more pallet shelving for the warehouse next to the panty, for the stock of donations that they already have. I believe last week they spent $1500 on plastic containers alone to place prepared meals in for delivery to the homeless in Hotels, and of course they cannot be re-used, which means each week they are looking at a similar expense. The need to prepare meals becomes bigger as the weeks go on, especially during this Lockdown, where more people have lost jobs or shifts and can't’ afford to put food on their tables.
My question to all Rotarians – How can you help me to assist this awesome Charity, which started out of their own garage and is now receiving many more referrals since moving into their donated warehouse?
- Do you know a supplier of Gloves, Hand Sanitiser, Fresh Vegetables and Fruit, Milk, Frozen Meals and even bunches of flowers or pot plants (they offer this to ladies that come in and the ladies that work there, feel they need an extra ‘pick me up’ to take home with them)?
- Cash donations are needed to assist in covering electricity costs for running the chill room, petrol costs for delivery to the city, as well as picking up donated food from surrounding suburbs, extra food and other items to be able to prepare the meals that they donate.
- Do you know any Managers from your local Woollies, Coles, Aldi etc that you think would commit to donating food on a regular basis?
If you can email me (cherylzuhlsdorff@hotmail.com) and let me know who to contact, or who you have contacted, that I can follow up with to see where or how they can help, it would be greatly appreciated. I am also trying to think of ways/events/trivia nights or such, to raise funds for this charity, so any assistance with that would be appreciated as well.
Going forward (as my roster allows me), I will be working/assisting one day a week and will offer additional help over the weekends, if required.