Hampers with essential supplies and toys to be delivered today

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Hundreds of hampers packed with Christmas essentials are being packed and delivered to people throughout Brisbane today. Along with them will be toys and presents for children.

Transcript

00:00Well, I'm here in West End with the not-for-profit organisation, Micah Projects, who helps support

00:08people impacted by homelessness.

00:10And behind me you'll see some very busy volunteers who've taken time out of their Christmas Eve

00:15to help put together some Christmas hampers to be delivered ahead of the big day.

00:20I'm joined by CEO Karen Walsh.

00:23Karen, thanks for being here.

00:25Talk me through the numbers.

00:27What is the number of volunteers, first of all, and how many hampers are expected to

00:31be put together?

00:32Well, today we've had over 500 volunteers help us pack the hampers and make them into

00:39gifts so that they can be delivered.

00:41Many of the volunteers have got a delivery that they will do to someone's home.

00:46Many of the people that are receiving, it's over 500, almost 600 hampers.

00:51Some are individuals living in social housing or homeless in motels.

00:56And many of the families are people that have been impacted on by not only homelessness

01:01but domestic violence and the cost of living pressures.

01:05So, the idea for us is that they get a gift today, fresh fruit and hemp and food that

01:12will get them through the Christmas period.

01:15And we've spoken about a few of those goodies.

01:17We can see them behind us now.

01:19How important is it to have those sort of fresh items at this time of year?

01:23Well, often people can't afford fruit, and particularly Christmas fruit, because it's

01:27a bit more expensive, so we get cash donations in order to give a fruit hamper.

01:34People always give us positive feedback.

01:36They love receiving it on Christmas Eve, so it's fresh and ready to go on Christmas Day.

01:42And it's a big operation here, 500 people or so.

01:46How long does that take to plan?

01:48What goes into a drive this big?

01:50We start planning in September.

01:53People start collecting items for us in offices, schools, any community groups, individuals.

01:58Yesterday, we had a little boy come in and gave us $50 that he had saved up.

02:03So I suppose it's a way of engaging the community in giving and understanding that not everyone's

02:09as comfortable as some of us are.

02:12And people love the opportunity to do that, and it's been a tradition.

02:15This is our 29th year.

02:17Some people came as children themselves and are now bringing their children.

02:21So it's a great way to build the community spirit, because it is really tough for people

02:26who are living in poverty and not being able to have a home or fleeing violence.

02:33It's often quite a hard time of year for a number of people.

02:37Is your organisation seeing an uptick in people needing donations?

02:41Oh, absolutely.

02:43We've got over 200 families in motels.

02:46I mean, this is unprecedented in Australia and in Queensland that so many people are

02:51displaced by the housing crisis.

02:54And we need to constantly work to resolve it more quickly and make sure that people

02:59have a home, because that's really a foundation for everything in their life.

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