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Feed 327 families each week at Open Hands Pantry in Ballarat

Help keep a free food pantry open for families and seniors in Ballarat.

🇦🇺 Australia2,626 views
Hadley R. Willis
Email verified
Ballarat
Since 2023, our volunteer team has run Open Hands Pantry every Monday from the back of the parish hall. We started with 30 families, and now we feed 327 each week. Donations have dropped by about 49% this summer, while the line has grown every single week. We rely on volunteers - 7 of us - and keep no salaries or overhead. I buy staples at wholesale prices at the Ballarat market and keep every receipt. Each $30 feeds a family of four for a week. All of the funds go to groceries, fresh produce, and cold-storage costs. Where the $3,450 goes: • Fresh vegetables and fruit: $1,050 • Rice, beans, flour and oil (wholesale): $2,000 • Baby formula and diapers: $400 Thank you for reading my story. - Hadley
#food-pantry#hunger#volunteer-led#food

Updates from Hadley

  1. Update from Ballarat: I met with the wholesaler and confirmed the amounts. We're at 19% of the goal. Thank you for believing in us. - Hadley

Donations

RecentTop gifts
  • Patience Georgina Wiredu 🇬🇭 · $100

    “Blessings. From Cape Coast with love.”

  • Parvin Sumaiya Banerjee 🇬🇧 · $28
  • Rukhsar Kiran Malik 🇵🇰 · $75

    “Be well. My mother told me about this one. - Lahore”

  • Dalia Asma Nassar 🇸🇦 · $50
  • Ali Uğur Demir 🇹🇷 · $5
  • Bruna Aparecida Fonseca 🇧🇷 · $10
  • Anonymous 🇳🇬 · $99
  • Anonymous 🇺🇸 · $100

    “Stay strong. Thought of Hadley all day after reading this. - Reading”

  • Emily S. Joseph 🇬🇧 · $10
  • Zoe G. Tucker 🇬🇧 · $20
  • Naoki Yusuke Ogawa 🇯🇵 · $10
  • Kai S. Luna 🇬🇧 · $30

    “Happy to help. Hope you get the rest soon. - Coventry”

  • Landon R. Evans 🇬🇧 · $20
  • Anonymous 🇳🇬 · $25
  • Anonymous 🇲🇽 · $100

    “God bless. Small amount but sent with love. - Tuxtla Gutiérrez”

  • Anonymous 🇦🇺 · $10

    “Thought of Hadley all day after reading this. - Sydney”

  • Jomar W. Reyes 🇵🇭 · $25
  • Julia Julia Wilk 🇬🇧 · $100

    “Get well soon. Been where you are, it gets better. - Leicester”

  • Luca F. Dixon 🇺🇸 · $10

    “Hope this helps. - Charlotte”

  • Isaiah J. McDonald 🇺🇸 · $50

    “Hope the October deadline works out. - Phoenix”

Reviews

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Questions & comments

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  • Liam S. Wells

    Hope you get there. Wish I lived closer to Seoul so I could bring a meal. All the best.

    • Nour Yasmin Zidan

      Shared it with a few friends. Love from Belo Horizonte

      • Stelios Pavlos Alexiou

        Hope it all works out, Hadley. Shared this with my family. All the best.

        • Elena Simona Ricci

          Great idea, hope you get there. I told my book club about it and three of them are giving too. Take care.

          $1,627.50 raised of $3,450

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