Volunteering at the OzHarvest Market
I volunteer every Monday at the OzHarvest Market in Kensington, Sydney, and take the customers one by one to fill their basket with goodies—including freshly baked bread from the Bread and Butter Project, which helps teach asylum seekers and refugees how to bake. From 10am to 2pm, people from all walks of life enter our doors, and everyone leaves with a lovely bag of fresh food and sense of fulfilment at being able to provide for their loved ones that night.
Working with like-minded volunteers, distributing food to approximately 120 people a day, creates a great sense of purpose. We are preventing the food from going to landfill, and at the same time we are providing to the very needy who cannot afford to put good food on the table for themselves and their families. Over the months we have become connected to some of the more frequent visitors, and when a familiar face enters the door, there are squeals of delight and big hugs. The camaraderie between the regular volunteers is also great, as we sit and share our stories of the shift at the end of the day. We all think a little differently when we arrive home and open our own fridge doors, or go to casually throw something in the bin.
We don’t ask clients to share their stories, but some enjoy having a chat. I remember one day a well-dressed lady entered the market and nervously told me she was in need. I reassured her that everyone was welcome, and that we operate on the principle, “Take what you need for your family tonight and tomorrow, and give IF you can.” I explained that $1 donated to OzHarvest can feed two meals to someone else in need. She told me very gingerly that she had triplets. “Triplets?” I said, “Wow, they must be a handful.” As her story went on, I hung onto every word. An innocent trip to America turned out to be a living nightmare for this lady. She went into labour prematurely and gave birth to her three babies in an American hospital, but one was born with spina bifida. Eight months later she finally returned to Australia with the babies, but she owes more than a million dollars in healthcare bills. The children are now two years old, and even though this mother never gets more than two hours’ sleep, she is surviving. For her, quality free food is a lifesaver. It felt very good to be filling her basket with nappies and food.
The reason I started volunteering at OzHarvest was because I had just sold my business, and I like to be busy. I thought I would only be there for a few weeks as I started picking up freelance work, but four months on I tell people I am not available to work
