One of the things the team at Australian Communities Foundation prizes most about working where we do is the opportunity to be part of a values-led organisation that is helping to build a fairer Australia.

Last month our team had the opportunity to live our values by spending a morning volunteering in the kitchen at FareShare in Melbourne.

As a team we made 1,040 quiches during our shift and prepared batter for another 1,440 quiches.

The morning was part of a team building day and our time at FareShare was organised by our Grants Coordinator, Gabby Lam.  

“FareShare is a long-time favourite of several of our sub-funds, collectively giving close to $30,000 over six years,” Gabby explains.

“When our CEO, Maree, asked members of the Staff Fund to organise a team day, we thought what better than to get our hands into some volunteering. With a shared love for food and cooking, FareShare seemed like a great fit for our team.”

FareShare’s mission is to rescue food that would otherwise be wasted; cook and distribute nutritious meals to people in need; and inspire and empower action on food rescue and hunger.

FareShare began in 2000 when pastry chef, Guido Pozzebon, started cooking 300 pies every Saturday morning for the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul.

Separately, Melburnian Steven Kolt began collecting prepared meals from function halls and catering venues. Steven was a member of Jewish Aid (now Stand Up) and together members from that group named their project Melbourne City Harvest.

A year later these two efforts merged and FareShare was born. By 2002 FareShare was steadily increasing its food production but faced a massive roadblock. Due to outdated laws, some businesses that were keen to donate were unable to provide FareShare with their surplus food.

FareShare and the Law Institute of Victoria successfully lobbied the Victorian Government to introduce Australia’s first Good Samaritan law to protect food donors. This important change allowed FareShare to dramatically increase production and productivity.

By 2012 FareShare had an established kitchen in Abbotsford, producing 500,000 meals a year. However, they were unable to keep up with demand from charities and people in need.

In 2013 with philanthropic support, FareShare was able to open Australia’s largest charity kitchen, on South Audley Street which produces more than one million meals a year.  

However, in 2020 like most non-profits, FareShare faced enormous challenges as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold. The lockdown restrictions limited the number of volunteers in the FareShare kitchen, while there was a rapid increase in demands for meals.  

Corporate Partnerships and Media Director, Toni Hetherington explains, “FareShare has continued cooking for people in need through Covid, but not without its challenges. Our volunteer workforce was suspended at the height of the pandemic to protect our volunteers’ health and prevent further spread of the virus. However, generous support from Woolworths providing extra food, ALH providing out-of-work chefs and staff from the Victorian Government’s Working for Victoria scheme kept our kitchens, gardens and warehouses running for more than a year. 

“It’s been heart-warming to see so many supporters backing FareShare at this time of great need. Thankfully, our volunteers are now back and FareShare is powering on to provide the best meals it can to nourish our most vulnerable people.”

During the Australian Communities Foundation’s team visit, FareShare CEO, Marcus Godinho, told us that despite the first hurdles, FareShare was able to double the number of meals and in some weeks, they distributed more than 120,000 ready-to-eat meals to communities and partners across Australia.

Each year, nearly 6 million people volunteer through an organisation in Australia. In 2019 volunteers contributed 596 million hours to the community. Estimates indicate that 78 per cent of companies have a volunteering program, with 15 per cent of employees participating in corporate volunteering.

It’s easy to see how important volunteering is for a non-profit like FareShare.

Toni Hetherington describes FareShare’s volunteers as “the heart and soul of the organisation.”

“Each day volunteers from the community, corporate organisations and schools work hand-in-hand with our chefs to cook and pack about 5,000 nutritious meals,” Toni explains.

“Making this many free meals for people in need would not be possible without our volunteer army, which also powers the planting and harvests at our kitchen gardens, our warehouses and our drivers on the road rescuing surplus food.”

For the team at ACF, our morning spent volunteering was not only a small contribution towards helping others, it was also an opportunity to learn more about a grant partner and each other.

“Workplace volunteering is not only fun, but it also gave us a chance to work beside colleagues that we might not usually spend time with,” Gabby says. “It was also great to see our egg cracking and pastry folding efforts being put to good use!”