Foodshare: The motivation behind this venture.
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| Christmas 1977 - Mum and me. |
I recently put my mother’s old suitcases out for hard
rubbish, I’d been holding onto them for far too long. The last time they were
used was to store my brother’s belongings after he died, the belongings I couldn’t
bare see go to his ex-wife. My brother used those maroon suitcases to leave his wife,
shortly after which his life spiraled out of control.
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| My brother - 1973 |
The zippers on both suitcases were broken, the handles were just
hanging on and the corners were split, they were held together by the strap,
but only just.
From memory my mother used those suitcases only once, to
leave my father. She left a man, probably in a similar condition to what my
brother was in before he died.
My mother, older brother and sister and I left Perth on the
train to Melbourne in the mid-seventies. I’m only now beginning to appreciate
how long and painful that trip must have been for my mother.
Mum and her three children, all born out of wedlock returning
to the place she had grown up twenty years earlier, a remote wheat farm in
rural N.S.W., returning to the bedroom that she slept in as a child. She didn’t
get along with her parents, especially her mother, she must have had nowhere else
to go.
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| Christmas 1975 |
Mum started her life again in her mid-forties with
nothing more than what was in those old vinyl suitcases. She was unemployed and alone for
a long time when I was young. During those early years we had very little and
we lived on tinned tomato soup most days. She relied reluctantly on the kindest
of others and on occasion we were given food parcels from local charities. She
hated that the most and would have preferred going hungry. She was fiercely independent,
but she knew her limits.
My mother began working and eventually re-built her life.
She bought a house and made a beautiful home in which we were very happy. She had
a close network of good friends and she began for the first time in my life, living a good life. She was very proud of me and I really enjoyed making her proud. We
were happy together.
It was those few dark years in my mother’s life that good
people helped without having to be asked, that made the world of difference. Those small and
simple gestures from complete strangers that kept us afloat until we could look
after ourselves. I’ll never be able to repay their kindness directly, so all I
can do, is try to do, exactly what they did and that is why I'm starting Foodshare.
Those old vinyl maroon suitcases never made it to the rubbish tip and are still where they
belong and my mothers name was Pauline.
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| The old maroon vinyl suitcases, what they would have been like new. |
7 comments
Colin -- your mom is my new hero!
ReplyDeleteSo much inspiration in this story. I feel more excited now about the project after reading this post. The impact potential is huge in Australia and globally. With the right execution, I have no doubt about this becoming widely accepted.
I found a similar initiative that has a good spread worldwide but not yet in Australia. It's called Table for Two, and they are targeting corporations around the world saying they have served over 41m meals so far. Could be a good partner for your project, Check 'em out here:
http://www.tablefor2.org/home
Thanks Khaled for your king words and support. My mother is one of the many amazing parents through their own determination and sacrifice build better lives for their children.
ReplyDeleteTable for Two is an impressive concept with a huge impact! 41M meals shows how generous people can be when given the opportunity, and this is why we are confident that a similar program like Foodshare will work in Australia.
We have made an exciting new development in our business model that will dramatically improve our ability to deliver positive impacts in Australia and also Internationally. We are working on the details and hope to make an announcement very soon which I'm sure you will enjoy. Thanks again Khaled.
Hi Colin,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this very moving story about your inspiration to start Foodshare. I agree with Khaled that your mother sounds like an amazingly strong, resourceful woman.
I'm sure that most Australians would be willing to contribute to your cause. Is it the cafe/restaurant or the customer themselves that donates a meal to someone in need?
Also, could people contribute the tips they may leave at the restaurant to Foodshare. A new restaurant in the US has created buzz by paying their employees more than their competitors and asking customers not to tip. Tipping is so commonplace in the US though that they do receive tips and donate them to charity. The article is here if you'd like to read it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/restaurant-bans-tips-pays-competitive-wage_n_5537127
Hi Melissa,
DeleteYes, our mother was extremely resourceful, sometimes too resourceful!, but that's for another time.
We realise the best people to delivery aid to the disadvantaged is the experts and that's why we partner with organisations like Fareshare, Foodbank, Secondbite, Ozharvest to name just a few, who are purely focused on this activity. Foodshare provide financial support directly to these organisations to deliver the aid most efficiently i.e. the meals.
There is no point for us to get involved in this activity, we simply want to help these existing organisations do what they do best.
At various hotels, restaurants and cafes we will include a voluntary donation for diners who don't choose a specific Foodshare meal or who simply want to top up their contribution, this will be similar to a tip that is added to their bill.
Thanks for the link, interesting model and we are open to all ideas.
Thank you.
Thanks for the reply Colin. It sounds like a good model to partner with organisations who already have this expertise and instead fund their growth. Good luck!
DeleteHi Colin great idea well worth doing and Im sure something that might also work in the corporate hotel restaurant locations. On any weekday you will find corporates in the major cities dining alone in hotel restaurants your idea would give an otherwise boring experience a sense of purpose. Take it from one who has done this regularly over the past nine years. Kind Regards Jim
ReplyDeleteThanks Jim,
DeleteI agree and a definite audience we can include in our activities.
Regards, Colin.