Meet Nicolette, Team Co-Leader at our Foodbank in Footscray.

It was 2015 and Nicolette was watching the news like so many of us were, footage of families fleeing Syria’s civil war, crossing borders into Europe with nothing but what they could carry. Nicolette decided right there and then that she needed to do something.

“I thought to myself, ‘put your money where your mouth is’ or, in this case, your time,” she says. 

She knew about the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s work in this space, so she went along to ASRC Volunteer Information Night. She listened to volunteers from different programs about what they did. By the end of the night she’d join the Foodbank in Footscray.

That was over a decade ago and Nicolette is still here. Part of the reason for that longevity is that Nicolette finds the ASRC to be a very welcoming space. “When you come through the door, there is a very welcoming atmosphere, not just for people seeking asylum, but for volunteers as well.” 

Nicolette is firmly of the view that access to food is a basic human right, and she gets pleasure in helping people who would otherwise go hungry get food. Many people seeking asylum in Australia aren’t allowed to work. Many have little or no income at all. So when Nicolette helps someone to get a box of groceries, it means they will not go without dinner that night. She says, “In an uncertain and unstable world, it is nice to make a positive contribution.” 

One of the aspects of her work that Nicolette values and enjoys the most is having direct contact with people seeking asylum and talking with them about food and recipes across the world. Every now and then she finds herself explaining to them what exactly Vegemite is. And more often than not, the children have asked their parents to get more of it. 

It’s not all warmth and conversation though. Volunteering in the Foodbank means there is only so much to go around and the finite stock of food and toiletries needs to be allocated equably to all clients. There is a system in place that minimises confusion and ensures all clients have access to sufficient food.

As a co-leader in the Foodbank, Nicolette explains the system carefully to new clients – how allocations are worked out based on family size and why the process works the way it does. This system has changed over the years and its current iteration uses numbers and colours. “So regardless of language, once people are shown how it works, it allows them autonomy over their shopping experience.” says Nicolette. 

Nicolette loves the friendships and conversations that she has with other volunteers who share her wish to help, and believes that the spread of volunteers across all age groups at the ASRC is a great thing. “The availability of volunteer positions across a range of programs is another advantage that the ASRC offers,” she says.

Volunteers play a crucial role at the ASRC. There are ten volunteers in the Foodbank on the day that Nicolette is there, and without their contribution the Foodbank simply could not function. Some volunteers are busy re-stocking the shelves in the supermarket-style shop upstairs, sorting fruit and vegetables for the fresh produce area, and others are sorting donations downstairs. 

When she is not at the ASRC, Nicolette runs a small business with her husband, and during her downtime enjoys being with her family and friends whether cooking, listening to music or travelling. She also enjoys cinema and reading as a way to access different stories and ideas.