Inner West Mums Deliver 100 Food Hampers to the Asylum Seekers Centre – And More!

Each Christmas the Inner West Mums give to those in need. And this year the mums really outdid themselves, donating more than $5000 to produce and deliver 100 food hampers for the Asylum Seekers Centre (ASC)!
The ASC, which is based in Newtown, provides practical and personal support for over 3000 community-based asylum seekers. This independent not-for-profit organisation relies totally on grants, donations and volunteer support.

The Christmas food drive was led by Inner West Mums founder Anita Vitanova, whose original goal was to create just ten hampers. Following an outpouring of support from the Inner West Mums group, however, Anita increased that target ten-fold. And by Friday 14 December 2018 the 100-hamper goal was reached – with money to spare!
On Friday a dozen Inner West Mums (and a few extra helpers) gathered at Aldi Birkenhead Point to assemble the hampers. Each hamper contained 17 basic food items, including breakfast cereal, lentils, chick peas, rice, noodles, spaghetti, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, pasta sauce, soup, tuna, juice, oil, tea, coffee, long-life milk and jam. The spare funds were spent on other non-food essentials, such as nappies and other personal care items – and not forgetting some choccy!

Aldi Birkenhead Point trainee manager Tim Amudu went above and beyond in coordinating the large volume of supplies, hauling them to the Inner West Mums production line (in the food court at Birkenhead Point Brand Outlet Centre) and helping with loading the goods into cars – all on his day off too.


The 100 hampers were assembled and delivered to the Asylum Seekers Centre within two hours. Suffice to say, when every last item was delivered, the food hamper and toiletries donation made a rather impressive sight!

The Asylum Seekers Centre wrote on its Facebook page on Friday: ‘Wow, that is a BIG food and toiletry drive! Thank you so much, Inner West Mums- Sydney … What an amazing effort! We are lucky to be supported by your fantastic group.’

Anita Vitanova said: ‘I have been blown away by the enthusiasm and generosity of the group! Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to our food drive, with donations of money and/or time, especially during this busy period. The response was brilliant. A shout-out to the volunteers who helped create the hampers, to Aldi Birkenhead Point (and in particular Tim Amudu), and to Birkenhead Point which donated the 100 hessian bags for the hampers. I’m so thrilled that together we have managed to put food on the table for so many families. The fantastic part is, we still have a little bit of leftover money, so we can do a small top-up shop to help restock the ASC’s shelves in January!’

Many thanks to Kyle Jenkins of KAADE Imagery for providing his photographic expertise and to videographer Zac Alviz of Zac Alviz Studios who documented the event.
Big thanks to Gowland Legal, which served as a drop-off point for those who wanted to contribute food items or create their own hampers.
And lastly thank you to the many businesses which dug deep to donate to the cause: Alena Benett Coaching, Birkenhead Point Brand Outlet Centre, Bright Sparks Learning and Development, Calabash Bay Lodge, Canale Tax Accounting, Direct Conveyancing Solutions, Fluro Fitness, Gowland Legal, Jump! Swimming School Rozelle, Jennifer Brown Music, K&T Legal Pty Ltd, Last Minute Accounting, Leap into Literacy, Marsh Financial Advice, Minnow Designs, Planet Properties Inner West, Salt Surf Sea, Sonya Furlong Life Coaching, Smallprint Sydney Inner West, The Source Balmain and Wise Up Marketing.
What a great team effort!

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