Hi Leanne here.

It’s a bit of a tough gig isn’t it? Going back into hibernation.

But … for anyone who doesn’t know

1. People in our immediate neighbourhood have COVID19 (despite being super careful)

2. It’s super catchy (see above).

So don’t be in any doubt that community transmission is now happening right here - and take extra care.

I know it is a bit daunting, but in the end I think helpful to honestly acknowledge our reality and to also recognise that this is not something someone else will or can fix for us.

It really is going to need our individual and collective goodwill and action (or inaction as it may be), along with our kindness, understanding, good humour, resilience, flexibility, patience and love to get through this - in terms of our own (and our community’s) physical and mental health.

So I am trying to remember to take it easy on myself and others, to not react, to trust that everyone is likely as worried and antsy as I am, and to have faith that like me, everyone is doing their best in unchartered waters.

Obviously ACC will not be physically open in the next few weeks, but we will be here sharing these crazy times, thinking about and actioning ways we can keep connected - together but apart. And we’ll be posting daily on Instagram and Facebook (trying to ensure our posts are generally a bit more upbeat than this one). You can also sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter via your email inbox if you haven’t already.

If you need support please know we are only a phone call or email away. Just like last time you can contact us if you need practical things like meals or connections into other services, or if you need a one-off chat, a regular phone call … or anything else.

Think of us as your neighbourhood family!

Finally I thought I would leave you with this quote from stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, which someone else shared on the interwebs recently. Because I agree that stoicism could well be where we’re at.

xx

We’ve made a little video of our Honestly project. It has been so interesting to read the letters each week from people in our community talking about their life in 2020.

We hope you have enjoyed them too!

Letters to the neighbourhood in the year 2020

Remember a couple of weeks ago we had a post about Adi who runs that delicious french bakery Little Bertha? Well … when we were chatting out on the corner, he told me that during corona times some of his staff have been working at Fareshare.

Fareshare is an organisation that rescues food and uses chefs to turn it into meals.They have been going flat out recently. In May alone they produced over 500,000 meals to feed people impacted by Covid-19.

This is the food we have been delivering to people in our community over the last couple of months. And I can vouch for it. In times gone by I have had their vegetarian lasagne (delicious), chicken and vegetable satay (delicious) and beef curry (also delicious) - we’ve sometimes had it for our Community Lunches (coming our way via SecondBite).

So … if you know someone who could do with a yummy free meal or two, and are independent enough to get around, here’s a link so they can order and collect the meals themselves, from Gelato Messina’s warehouse in East Brunswick.

Students might like it. Families might like it. Anyone who is feeling financial pressure or a bit overwhelmed in any way by the ongoing corona times might like it!

If you are keen, the Gelato Messina website is encouraging you to order a couple of meals - so that you have some variety during the week. Note that each ‘meal’ serves 3-4 people (they are very generous), and comes frozen and vacuum sealed. And note that when you go to order, there is a $1 fee, that you can override with a code. Just follow the instructions.

So … don’t be shy. No one has to give any reason for accessing this food at this time. It’s just a good community thing in these strange and crazy days!

Did you know that this week is refugee week? At ACC we have a long-standing commitment to supporting refugees that seek asylum in Australia.

We support refugees that have arrived more recently by being a collection point for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre food relief effort.

So, anyone can drop off non-perishable food at any time here at ACC - in the roller shed in our back garden. And perishable food can be delivered on Thursday mornings between 10am-12pm directly to Andy who then drives everything over to Footscray.

We accept multiple donations each week from both groups and individuals, and estimate that over $20,000 of goods are collected for ASRC through ACC alone each year - which is a wonderful commitment by our community to helping out people experiencing immensely difficult times.

It is just so heartening to see so many people demonstrating empathy, care and kindness through the action of donating.

Usually the food and other grocery items we collect go into the ASRC ‘supermarket’ but in Corona times ASRC (like other food relief organisations) has been putting together packs for delivery.

As we have already mentioned, ACC has been delivering meals to over 30 families during lockdown, utlising the broader food relief program led by the Darebin Neighbourhood House Network.

As things slowly open up and people can get themselves out and about, our weekly deliveries are dropping off. We’re expecting that this week will be our last run.

For those with an ongoing need for precooked meals or groceries, we are hooking them in to long running, well established existing food relief and broader support services in our community such as DIVRS and Your Community Health.

At ACC, we’ll be looking to resume food related activities in term 3 and 4. But we’re sorry to say that it looks like our community lunches will be on hold for a while.

Instead, we’ll be exploring some other models - such as morning tea out on the corner (weather permitting) - at least until social distancing rules are relaxed.

We’re currently working on a new program for next semester and we’ll be confirming all the details in the coming week or two.

Food delivery in action.