I love how having a plan can allow you to keep moving things along, even if it is out of order. 🙂 This week I was going to be talking about Christmas Cards. I have been working on ours (with the help of someone very clever too!), but have decided to wait until I can show you them before I post about them. I have also organised a very cool give away to accompany the post as well, that will help one lucky reader with their own Christmas Cards, so stay tuned!
Over the next few weeks I have lined up a another couple of super give aways and special offers for readers as we march towards Christmas. This is a small way to say thanks for the wonderful support I receive on the blog, it really keeps me going.
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This week as part of my Christmas preparation, I am posting about giving to others. In the part of the world we live in, it is easy to forget that are those around us that have dire needs. They aren’t thinking about Christmas Cards, Christmas Budgets or Christmas Presents. They are just worrying where there next meal will come from.
The charity that I decided to contribute to in the lead up to Christmas is the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. Without wishing to turn this post political, Australia’s most recent history on how we treat asylum seekers is appalling and something that I wish would change. Thankfully there are places like ASRC that work so hard to make life better for this vulnerable group in our society. Most of the people whom they provide assistance to:
- have no work rights
- receive no form of welfare
- have no income
As you can imagine, this makes even having enough food to eat almost impossible. The ASRC has a Food Action Network where you can donate food to help them assist asylum seekers in our community. You can download a PDF which gives a great definition of food security and a list of foodstuffs and other items that they need.
Donating to the Food Action Network
I wanted to make this a family event and get the kids on board. I wanted them to understand why we were donating this food and who would receive it. We talked about why the asylum seekers don’t have enough money to buy food and then went through the list together to make our own shopping list of the items that they would like to buy for them. I took the three youngest kids shopping with me and had them choose all the items and put them in the trolley.
We have made three food packs like the one in the photo above, which we will drop off next week. I spoke to the kids about how this was coming out of our Christmas budget and I was really warmed by their response. Once they comprehended the fact that asylum seekers in Melbourne actually might not have enough food to eat, they wanted to know who else might not have enough to eat and what else they could do.
If you are interested in donating to the Food Action Network here are the details:
You can deliver food weekly, fortnightly or monthly. You can drop food off Monday to Friday 10am-5pm, Wednesday nights from 6pm-8pm or Saturday mornings (by prearrangement). Just come to 12 Batman Street, West Melbourne. From 10am-12 midday every Thursday you can drop off NEXT TO the Girl Guides Hall, 107 Wingrove Street, Fairfield (off Station Street).
Please contact the Foodbank Coordinator (Patrick) directly if you have any questions, on ph. 9326 6066 mob. 0438 414 467 or just stop by! Shoot your email enquiries to food@asrc.org.au
Do you have a tradition of giving to others at Christmas time?