Deluxe Grazing, Uncle George’s Coffee and One Thing Project join up to deliver boxes of love

People are literally “balling their eyes out over it when we rock up at their house.” Small things can mean so much during lockdown.

A small platter of food and a coffee might not sound like much, but to someone struggling with border closures and lockdowns, it can be mean the world.

Deluxe Grazing owners Alisha Marshall and Monique Bathie have teamed up with Uncle George’s coffee shop owner George Saunders and the team at One Thing Project to deliver “little boxes of love” to people on the North Coast.

“We wanted to do a little act of kindness and give back to our community,” Ms Bathie said.

“So thought we’d start by doing a free box per week.”

What started as a small gesture, turned into a massive project when they were inundated with stories of people doing it tough.

“We got 100s of messages and thought ‘we can’t choose one, there’s too many,” Ms Marshall said.

Ms Marshall and Ms Bathie thought they would be able to manage making 20 or so boxes, but with the help from One Thing Project they’ve been able to answer the hundreds of people in need of cheering up.

The stories they’ve received have been heartbreaking. One woman’s mum was diagnosed with cancer and passed away within five weeks and she wasn’t able to see her due to border restrictions.

“Heaps of people have messaged us about Tweed Hospital as well,” Ms Marshall said.

“That hospital is overrun, the staff are working back to back shifts and they’re so overworked and understaffed.”

“We’re going to do a drop there next week,” Ms Bathie said.

Alisha Marshall, Eden Appo (One Thing) and Monique Bathie have teamed up to spread joy.

Ms Marshall says people are literally “balling their eyes out over it when we rock up at their house.”

Ms Bathie said she was inspired by all the other people doing their bit where they can to help those in need.

“Everything is really bad, but it’s really nice to see the community come together,” she said.

The girls will be out delivering the grazing boxes throughout the next couple of weeks.