In late May, Random Acts joined the Supernatural cast – including executive director Rachel Miner – at All Hell Breaks Loose 10 in Melbourne, Australia. Food insecurity is a global issue, so as part of our 2019 #RANoHungryChild campaign, our Australian staff members Beverly Burrows-Pym and Natalie Fisher helped facilitate a food drive at the convention to benefit the Australian hunger relief charity Foodbank.
Challenges and Donations
Attendees dropped by all weekend to catch up with us about recent Random Acts activity, complete a Kindness Challenge, or deliver their contributions to the food drive. Many came prepared, but it was also lovely to see those fans who learned about the initiative onsite pop down to the shops at lunch time and return layer with whatever groceries they could carry!
By the end of the weekend, Random Acts supporters in Melbourne had contributed 11 whole boxes of goods – which ended up proving to be too much for us to move offsite when the convention center was bumped out, as both staffers had flown to the convention from other states, with no vehicle. Luckily, we were saved by a random act of kindness – when they learned of our organization and our sticky situation, a neighboring hotel was happy to store the trolley full of boxed donations overnight in their secure luggage room. A huge thanks to the Pan Pacific Southbank – your staff are true kindness warriors.
Visiting the Warehouse
On the Monday after the convention, we were able to visit Foodbank’s massive Melbourne warehouse, where we were given a tour by Food Doner Coordinator Daniel and learned about what will happen to your contributions. Foodbank receives non-perishable food deliveries large and small, donated by everyone from people like us – that’s individuals or groups running a food drive – to bulk orders from retailers or manufacturers.
Photo courtesy of Natalie Fisher.
As the largest food relief charity in Australia, Foodbank handles over 40 million kilograms more than 40 million kilograms of food per year and this food is in turn distributed to the front-line organizations – including around 2500 charity partners and 2000 schools – who supply meals and stock pantries for Australians in need.
It was amazing to witness the work Foodbank is doing in person, and heartening to see that our eleven boxes were just as enthusiastically welcomed as the pallets of canned goods on forklifts being handled in the driveway! Daniel followed up with us via email to report that the contributions from All Hell Breaks Loose amounted to 60kg in total, which breaks down to 108 meals to feed families in the state of Victoria.