Jenan Taylor
26 May 2022
An Anglican church has supplied six months’ worth of food to charities in the Boroondara area as part of its annual food drive.
The St Hilary’s network aimed to donate the food to community agencies supporting the area’s disadvantaged people
Teams of volunteers from St Hilary’s Kew, St Silas’ North Balwyn, St Augustine’s Mont Albert and other local churches collected the food in the community in early May.
St Hilary’s Hope food drive director Mike Urwin said they received an estimated 13 tonnes of food.
Mr Urwin said the group hadn’t known what to expect, initially, but had so many donations it had taken a week to be sorted and distributed.
“In the end we had some volunteer help from students at Balwyn High School,” Mr Urwin said.
He said they were able to supply the goods to service providers including Camcare and Boroondara Community Outreach.
Read more: Food drive volunteers evoke community generosity
Camcare volunteer and special events coordinator Mr Peter Stansfeld said the organisation had received more than 800 bags from the network, with a total worth of around $30,000 to $40,000.
Mr Stansfeld anticipated that this year’s efforts would help the community’s disadvantaged for about six months.
He said that Camcare had been a beneficiary of the initiative for more than seven years and that it always had a great impact on the people they supported.
