Hope For
Whitehorse
& Beyond
Our Annual Food Drive
How We Provide Hope
In 2017 2 churches (St Thomas' Burwood and St Mark's Forest Hill) teamed up and provided 2000 households with a Hope grocery bag. When we recollected the bags, the donated groceries amounted to in excess of $22,800! Each year since we have seen the donation grow as more churches partner together and the community responds positively.
2017 in Review
Our first campaign saw two church communities come together and achieve hope.
2018 Food Drive
2018 had 5 churches partnering together and the community responded in kind. Groceries to the value of $40,800 and distributed to many agencies in Whitehorse and beyond!
2019 CAMPAIGN
Our 2019 campaign saw an increase of 32%, from our previous year, in donated items!
FEEDBACK FROM THE AGENCIES
"The food items from the Hope for Whitehorse Food Drive 2019 have been received and stored and will be a great help with our work helping the many persons who call on us for assistance.
A person acting alone cannot achieve a lot but when many people act together and pool their various skills and talents a great deal can be done. This initiative is a good example of that.
It i, of course,e God’s work and many blessings will come to those involved.
Thank you very much and please pass on our thanks to all those concerned."
Gil Muir
President
Bennettswood Conference
St. Vincent de Paul Society
Thank you to all from St Tom’s Hope. I know it is a great program.
Two of my volunteers had only said to me on the morning of the delivery that the shelves were getting
bare and that we did not have enough stock for any food parcels the following week. What perfect
timing! Divine providence!
St Mark’s Community Centre Fitzroy (Anglicare)
Yesterday we received a generous quantity of food items collected by volunteers for the Whitehorse
Hope Food Drive. The items we received will help many people who are experiencing hardship. On
behalf of those people we help and of the members of our conference, I sincerely thank you for your good
works.
St Vincents de Paul Society Bennettswood - Gil Muir, President of Bennettswood Conference
Hi, The food drive is a great idea. I hope you visit our area again next year.
Colin from Vermont (Whitehorse resident)
It was too early to call it Christmas in July but it was certainly an amazing sight to see the truck roll up and
all the boxes and bags of food, all for our people. Over 100 bags and boxes, I think we counted. What a
spirit of giving from our community. That feeling of giving was carried in those who arrived on the truck
and diligently carried every item into our store. No standing room left once everything was packed away!
This will make such a difference to what we will be able to provide to our people and in times when things
are tight for us it means our own funds can be used in other ways for people in need.
Thank you all for the work you have put into making this happen.
Uniting East Burwood Centre - From Pamela Young, Senior Manager
“I'm currently doing a social work field placement in an organisation that provides emergency food relief (amongst other things). I just wanted to reiterate what you've heard from the organisations who received the food donations - they are SO appreciative. We give out food parcels every day, and the food to stock them comes from a very small government grant. This is nowhere near enough, so we rely on donations of extra food items. Most organisations like this one frankly wouldn't survive without the food donations, and the huge amount of time given by volunteers. I've seen clients burst into tears when we give them a small bag of food - barely enough to feed them for a week - because they haven't eaten for days. The thought that we might have to turn people away because we've run out of food is very sobering. Receiving food donations makes a HUGE difference.”