Nearly 10,000 Items Donated: How Our Community Powered the ASRC Festive Food Drive

On Sunday 7th December, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) hosted its annual Festive Food Drive, and once again, our community showed extraordinary generosity. For more than years, we have opened our garage doors at ASRC Footscray each December to receive donations of food and toiletries that help stock our Foodbank during the summer months when regular donations slow down.

Thank you for your compassion and generosity in supporting the ASRC Foodbank’s Festive Food Drive 2025. Together, nearly 100 donors filled over 200 crates with nearly 10,000 most needed items last Sunday!

The need is real. Up to 1,200 people rely on the ASRC Foodbank every month. Your contributions provide vital nourishment and dignity to people seeking asylum who visit the ASRC – many of whom have no access to Medicare, work rights, or safety net. Your donation is a direct and powerful act of solidarity. You’ve helped make sure that no one in our community goes without life’s essentials this festive season.

As always, the Festive Food Drive was an incredible community event, full of festive spirit, joy and even a bit of dancing! Our CEO, Kon, stood at the door greeting everyone who arrived. Donations came in all sizes – from a couple of loaves of bread hastily given by a neighbour who happened to be passing by to carloads of food worth hundreds, even thousands of dollars. Every single donation matters – every tin, pack and jar brings joy and comfort to someone who needs it.

This year’s drive was full of beautiful moments. Families with kids, individuals and even dogs stopped to chat, colour in and share in the festive spirit. Young Etta arrived with her own carefully written shopping list, making sure she didn’t miss anything we needed and even added lollies for the kids. Zephyr organised a food drive at his school, Brunswick North West Primary School, and delivered their huge donation.

We were also honoured to receive two trailer loads of goods, worth thousands of dollars, from Khalsa Aid Australia, brought in by their volunteer Navtej Singh. Their ongoing support is extraordinary and we are grateful to partner with an organisation so deeply committed to serving humanity.

Thank you for standing with people seeking asylum and helping build a more welcoming and compassionate community.  

Thank you for donating food and sharing joy.

If you couldn’t make it on the day, you can still donate food via Coles Online — full instructions at https://asrc.org.au/festive-food-drive – or arrange a weekday drop at ASRC by contacting donatefood@asrc.org.au