Many locals have seen the Mission 250 pledge from Moira Foodshare and have looked at ways that they can assist the worthwhile cause.
But one local that has found a unique and heartwarming way to give back is eight-year-old Yarrawonga College P-12 student Charlie Whinray.
During the recent school holidays, Charlie decided he wanted to raise some money for Moira FoodShare and determined his way of doing that was to sell some of his toys.
“I saw the news and asked mum what we could do to help the people that didn’t have much food and she told me about FoodShare,” Charlie said.
From there, Charlie and mum Danni were brainstorming some ways he could earn some fundraising money when, between them, they decided that he loved to draw so he could do drawings for family and friends and would charge them $1 per person in the picture with the money raised going towards FoodShare.
“He then decided that he was due for a toy clean out as well, so I said ‘why don’t you do a stall, we can make some things and you can sell your toys and raise a bit more money,” Danni said.
“So, it was decided and we put a post on the Yarrawonga and Surrounds Noticeboard Facebook page to advertise for him.
“I decided to sell my toys instead of doing a food or drink stall because I really wanted the people to have more food and food is more important than toys and I have plenty of toys,” Charlie added.
“We also made honey joys and lolly bags to sell too.”
Charlie has never done anything like this before but has grown very aware of how tough some people are doing it lately, seeing stories on the news as well as Danni talking to him about people that she has worked with in the past in community service.
“Charlie is a very thoughtful boy in general, he is always very generous and really thinks about the recipients when we donate to the children’s gift giving tree at Country Buddies or Kmart each year, and he loves participating, as lots of locals do,” Danni said.
Through the sale of his toys and some yummy goodies, Charlie was able to raise over $300!
“Joel (my husband) and I were so proud when Charlie was quizzing us on ways that he could fundraise and made his plan,” Danni said.
“We are always trying to instil an understanding in our boys that if we are in a position to do something to help others less fortunate, then we absolutely should. So when he asked what he could do to help it was really admirable.
“As a parent I feel like you are always second guessing your parenting and hoping that you are raising decent humans, so it was a nice little realisation that maybe we might be doing something right.
“We are very, very proud of him as he is an amazing kid.
“As he was raising the money he was always asking how many people will this help, or how long will this help for?
“We anticipated maybe raising $50, but community members and family really got behind him and contributed so generously.”
Moira FoodShare Coordinator James Rouel said Charlie’s donation was one of the sweetest ever received and will make a difference to locals in need of assistance from Moira Foodshare.
“What an incredible effort from an amazingly generous young man in our community wanting to help others,” Mr Rouel said.
“Thank you Charlie for an amazing effort!”
Mr Rouel said that since the inauguration of the Mission 250 campaign at the beginning of September, Moira Foodshare has had a fantastic response, but more still needed to be done.
“The Mission 250 is going strong with 90 patrons now signed up to commit $10 a month on an ongoing basis,” Mr Rouel said.
“This is an awesome effort by our local community but our aim is still to get 250.
“It is getting increasingly hard for Moira FoodShare to source food, operational costs continue to rise and demand for our service continues to grow in each of our towns. “These three factors place exceptional pressure on the capacity to deliver such an important program.
“Last month Moira FoodShare helped over 4,000 residents across the Moira and Berrigan Shire, seeing an increase on customers each month placing pressure on our supplies.
“By signing up to Mission 250 and contributing $2.50 a week, it makes a significant difference and gives us some level of stability in knowing we can continue to do the work we do within the community.”
If 250 people sign up, this would result in Moira FoodShare raising $30,000 over 12 months to purchase additional food and support the operational costs.
The program is set up through PayPal, is 100% tax deductible and easily accessed from the Moira FoodShare webpage.
There are several ways you can assist such as:
•Print out the flyer and put up in our office or any noticeboards you know of.
•Share this information with other community groups in your town you are part of.
•Get in touch with your local media and ask them to ensure they publish our campaign.
•Tell people about our goal and what it will enable Moira FoodShare to do.
•Share on your social media accounts (Moira FoodShare).
•Spread the word that every dollar stays local and helps support a local.
“We want to be transparent with what your support is helping us achieve, so make sure you enter your email address when signing up to receive regular updates and invitations to tour our warehouse and see the amazing work our sensational volunteers do,” Mr Rouel concluded.
Become a Moira FoodShare Patron now at: https://mhacare.org.au/food-share/