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.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
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.