We spoke to Karen from Channel 9, about hosting a Food Drive at her workplace.
Hi Karen! Is this the first Food Drive you’ve hosted at Channel 9?
Yes, the first one since we all moved into our new premises at 1 Denison St and the first Christmas post-covid that we had the majority of people back in the office.
What was it about the Rev Bill Crews Foundation that sparked your interest?
Historically Radio 2GB and John Singleton had always supported Bill's 'Loaves and Fishes Restaurant'. There was a shout out daily on 2GB when they opened to help feed the homesless and Channel 9 had help with supplying hams for the Foundations Christmas lunches for many years. Also when Bill asks for something you can't say no he's such a wonderful man!
Did the team enjoy getting involved?
We loved supporting Bill and were really pleased to see the assortment of Coles and Aldi bags that employees placed under the tree daily.
How long did the Food Drive run for?
It ran for 2 weeks which gave people plenty of time to get organised with presents or food donations. We sent out internal messaging and had lists of all the suitable goods that could be supplied in all our breakout area to give them ideas.
Were you surprised by any Food donations by staff?
Not necessarily surprised, but delighted. There are Coles and Aldi stores nearby in North Sydney and staff were going at lunchtime and buying a bag of goods from the list of suggestions we had supplied which was lovely to see as it was a deliberate act of kindness
Do you have any tips for workplaces who are interested in hosting a Food Drive?
Best tip would be to promote it across your business with posters and on Slack or whatever internal messaging you have, we sent a couple of reminders across the 2 week period. Also our Giving Tree was in a high traffic area near our Cafe so even if you had missed the messaging you couldn't miss the Christmas tree and piles of goodies surrounding it.
