Volunteers at Find A Penny Foundation are bracing for what could be their busiest Christmas on record.
On a normal Tuesday, the charity’s base, a community room at the Hampton Park Junior Football Club, was buzzing with constant movement. Volunteers squeezed past each other carrying crates of vegetables, sorting nappies into piles, and opening boxes of donated goods. Casey Mayor Stefan Koomen dropped by to help out. Director Beata “BB” Stednik was about to head out for a two-hour round trip to Heidelberg to collect a donation of pantries and frozen meat.
That urgency, the constant movement, the sense that every hour counts, captured the pressure Find A Penny was under as it prepares for its biggest event of the year: the free Community Christmas BBQ, to be held on Sunday 21 December at the Cairns Road community room.
This year’s event is expected to surpass last year’s crowd of 4,000.
“It’ll be a little bit bigger and a little bit better,” BB said.
“We’ve got support from the council, more rice for the kids, and we expect a lot more people needing food relief.”
BB said they wanted to create an environment where everyone feels welcome, despite their financial status.
“Food is such a huge stress for people, and especially when Christmas comes, it’s even more pressure to put food on the table.
“Our aim is to provide food for those in need.”
Find A Penny’s beginnings were humble: 18 years ago, at Queen Victoria Market, serving hot homemade soup to homeless people.
That grew into lasagna, rice and chicken dishes, then into a full buffet.
“And then Covid hit, so we had nowhere to go. It’s a long story because we were under a different umbrella, and we separated from that group, and we decided to go on our own under Find A Penny as an independent charity,” BB recalled.
“At home, we served 350 families each week. People came and collected the parcels.
“We got permits through the government and through our local council. We were able to drive, pick up food…”
Later, the charity moved onto its current base: Hampton Park Junior Football Club.
Today, the charity’s footprint is vast. They serve about 150 homeless people every Friday night in the city, support those sleeping rough at Dandenong Station, and supply food to people in transitional accommodation at a local caravan park.
On Thursdays alone, around 1,300 people receive food support, often emptying pantry shelves within hours.
Inside the Hampton Park community room, pantry coordinator Karem sorted the shelves with practised efficiency.
She checked halal labels, learned Dari and Farsi phrases to communicate with new Afghan families, and kept the space tidy to help reduce the overwhelm many might feel on their first visit.
“I like to make people comfortable when they come here,” she said.
“You know, you go shopping, you’ll feel the same. If things are everywhere in a mess, sometimes when the people first come in, it’s too overwhelming for them.”
Karem has been enjoying her work here, and she said the volunteers are really nice.
“Everyone doing just a little bit helps us serve the many people who are coming,” she said.
