By Ethan Benedicto
More than 50,000 apples were picked at the Montague Orchard in Narre Warren North last Friday, as volunteers from companies such as BildUrban, AusNet and McCain spent the day combing through the trees.
Hosted by Foodbank, Fruit Loop was held on 1 March and was a corporate event that saw big companies not only take part in the apple-picking activity but also raise money for those in need.
Matt Tilley, Foodbank’s chief communications officer said that the idea was “all locked away before apple blossom”.
“It’s been months in the making, and we had to wait – because we conceived the idea and spoke to Montague – but we had to wait for the apples to blossom and grow,” Mr Tilley said.
With teams of four, companies donned the apple-picking attires which included a front-facing harvest bag, high-vis and of course hats to combat the heat.
“Those apples will be donated to us [Foodbank] to distribute to Australians in need, all the while these corporate teams will be fundraising to try and see who wins the trophy for best fundraising team as well,” Mr Tilley said.
While the event featured a dash of competitiveness, Kathy Burgstahler who was part of the AusNet team was more than happy to have physically contributed in the process.
While she had been exhausted at the end of the day, the event for her was “extremely heart-warming”.
“For me it was about really seeing the difference that Foodbank makes in the community, and for this particular event, it was seeing how the community pulled together to make this all happen.
“Just seeing how there are so many people here, especially now that the cost of living is so high and people are really doing it tough, it’s great to see that so many are willing to give up a day of work and give back,” Ms Burgstahler said.
Foodbank VictoriaMatt caters to over 500 charities across the state, with the apples picked contributing to catering to the 57,000 people who rely on the charity’s provisions daily.
Previous corporate events had been held by Foodbank, such as the corporate bike ride event called Hunger Ride that was held in the town of Bright, some three and half hours away from Melbourne’s CBD.
Mr Tilley thought switching things up would be for the better, an event closer to home, and something that wasn’t so physically demanding.
In addition, Tilley was looking at “something that spoke to the work we do and people could feel like what they were doing was actually contributing to feed the roughly 57,000 people we feed a day”.
While Foodbank sees a range of support from other companies and sponsors, sometimes there is more demand than there is supply.
“We get lots of donated food, millions and millions every year but it’s not enough so we have to fundraise.
“We spend about $5 million purchasing extra and top-up food just to meet the demand, so we need to raise funds any way we can to find that kind of money.
“The thing is we only know so many people and can only ask so many donors and so we ask some of these big companies to do the asking for us,” Mr Tilley said.
For Ms Burgstahler, having personally raised $1000 for Foodbank was just the cherry on top.
“Seeing the process made it tangible, it wasn’t just about the money, you could see the produce and as we were leaving you could see the Foodbank trucks being loaded up with the apples and going straight to the people who needed it the most.
“I think the big thing with us is that we don’t do it to get the kudos, we do it to give back – you’re actually giving it back to the community, this is actually feeding people.
“It’s not just a big company throwing money at a charity, they’re actually allowing people to take a volunteer day of leave and go out there and physically help people, that’s the big difference,” she said.
The Fruit Loop event spanned the entire day and finished off with a dinner at Stella’s Kitchen that had a breakdown and reflection of the entire day.
The event was also attended by Ben Shewry, renowned chef and owner of Attica who spoke to the crowd about his experience with sustainability and ethically sourced ingredients, reducing food waste and supporting local producers.
