How one charity brought hope to a woman desperately in need
All it can take is one thing — a sickness, job loss or trauma — to send your life into a downward spiral. Nicole knows the feeling, and says she would have been helpless if not for the kindness of strangers.
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Nicole had always been able to take care of herself.
She worked hard and at times clocked up to 70 hours a week at two jobs – one as a hairdresser the other at an RSL.
Everything changed when she fled an abusive relationship with nothing but the clothes on her back.
“Because of what I’d been through I didn’t want to go out, I didn’t want to go to the shops. I was too scared to go anywhere,” she said.
She was soon sleeping on the floor, struggling to work or afford to eat.
“When you’re working two jobs you get used to being independent – if I wanted a dress I’d buy it, if I wanted food, I’d buy it and all of a sudden my accounts are in debt, I’m in hardship for my electricity and gas.”
Nicole had approached some of the bigger charities for help but felt judged and undignified.
She finally reached out to Helping Hands Mission chief executive Melanie Kent, who she had met through work.
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“(Mel) said come down straight away and basically for $5 I could get all the fruit and veggies and everything I needed,” she said.
Crisis struck again after her new partner of three years abandoned her at four months pregnant.
Helping Hands Mission once more came to the rescue, this time providing material aid such as a cot, baby furniture and a car seat.
Nicole’s baby, Harmony, is now thriving at almost a year old and the new mum is able to access fresh fruit, vegetables and grocery items from the Helping Hands Mission food pantry and a hot meal at the kitchen.
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“Everyone who comes here has their own story – you don’t know when they last had a proper meal – but no one feels guilty about asking for help here.”
Nicole was so grateful for the support she had received she started volunteering at the charity’s op shop.
“I’m so proud to tell people I volunteer here. It’s my way of giving something back because they’ve given me so much,” she said.
“Everyone here, especially at the food pantry, it doesn’t matter what you look like or what your story is, they just make you feel like you deserve it and it’s OK to ask for help.
“If I hadn’t reached out I don’t know where I would be, right now … this place was just a lifeline to me.”
Helping the helpers
Helping Hands Mission feeds more than a thousand people each week including pensioners, young families, family violence survivors and students.
With the charity’s food pantry based in a “big, old tin shed”, chief executive Melanie Kent said it was imperative they could store perishables – from food rescue agencies such as FareShare and Second Bite – properly.
“If someone comes to us with a pallet of frozen chicken schnitzels we need to have the cold storage to be able to store them properly,” Ms Kent said.
“This is rescued food so we need to be able to store it straight away – we can’t say to them ‘come back next week’.”
In the past they have had to turn away food donations.
Thanks to Feed Melbourne Appeal grants from the past two years, Helping Hands Mission has been able to replace nine old refrigerators with a cool room and industrial-sized freezers.
“The fridges they were old ones people had brought in from home so they just weren’t efficient to run,” Ms Kent said.
“We have seven op shops to raise the capital we need to run our services and when a grant like this Feed Melbourne one comes along like this is it such a gift to us. It has had a huge impact.”
Our Feed Melbourne Appeal is now Feed Victoria, part of our nationwide fundraiser the Feed Appeal.
Feed Victoria is in collaboration with Leader Community News and FareShare, and powered by Newman’s Own Foundation.
You can help families like Nicole’s, and organisations like Helping Hands Mission, by donating to Feed Victoria here.
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