OSSWA for HFB! | Community Packing Days

Our community packing days are proving to be incredibly diverse.

From school initiatives (Langford Islamic College), to family affairs (Sumaiyah’s), to community functions (Indonesian Community), these packing days have even found their way into Australian universities!

When Wael from OSSWA contacted HFB to organise a packing within their student association, the excitement was real.

After all, HFB used to live on university campuses in the form of collection points!

The Omani Students Society in Western Australia (OSSWA) is a non-profit organisation and is the premier representative body of all Omani students at Curtin University of Technology, Murdoch University, the University of Western Australia, Edith Cowan University, Central Institute of Technology and Canning College.

This team of students followed suit with previous community packing days by kicking into gear and collecting the donations they would eventually pack.

Come their packing day, OSSWA had collected and packed an amazing 26 boxes!

It was truly a special packing day when these students came together early on a Sunday morning to see their hard work move through the final stages in packing. Since then, we’ve had OSSWA members come down to regular packing days to see the usual chaos in action.

As you’ll notice by the brilliant photos on this post, this packing day had the privilege of hosting Rhiyaad Kahn as the photographer!

Rhiyaad took some time out on a Sunday morning to get these wonderful shots of the OSSWA Community Packing Day in action:

Rhiyaad is a Chartered Accountant by day who dabbles in photography, water sports and travel amongst various other hobbies. He’s been involved in projects such as the Refu-G ME Project with Shameema Kolia and Hamza Cakan, as well as being the Treasurer for the UN in WA.

It was an added bonus having Rhiyaad present at the OSSWA packing day, for both the good vibes and knowing how to get everyone’s good side.

When asked what inspires him to get involved in community initiatives, Rhiyaad said he gives back because of the abundance of blessings in his life, alhamdulillah.

If you would like to host your own community packing day OR if you would like to get involved with HFB in a freelance capacity, hit us up now: hfbperth@gmail.com!

 

Sixty Four at Sumaiyah’s! | Community Packing Days

It’s not enough to ask you to take our word for it that awesome people are doing awesome things in Perth. That’s why we’re kicking off our Community Packing Day spotlight series with Sumaiyah & her crew – our biggest collection and gathering to date!

Sumaiyah found out about hosting a Community Packing Day through our June newsletter (plug, plug: sign up for our newsletter).

“We were sitting at a friend’s daughter’s wedding and thought up the idea then. We wanted to get together to do something good and sent an email [to HFB] right then and there.”

Sumaiyah along with her family and friends held a community Eid dinner where they raised a whopping $330 for the project!

She continued raising funds after that event through her networks, aiming to donate 30 boxes worth of food.

However, come their packing day, they had collected enough donations for 64 boxes! That’s over a thousand dollars worth of food!

Words can’t express how wonderful it was to hear from Sumaiyah and her team as well as attend their little backyard packing day.

Sumaiyah’s family has now pledged to donate 10 boxes per month for the project, bringing the initiative into their home on an ongoing basis.

HFB-Perth would like to send a massive thank you and shout out to Sumaiyah and her crew for all of their efforts and contribution!

YOU can also host your own packing day with your family and friends – get in touch with us today to find out how: hfbperth@gmail.com

 

Get Your Community Packing On!

You’re all probably pretty familiar with the iconic HFB packing day. You rock up to our premises early on a Sunday morning, we all rush around packing food into boxes, we usually eat an unhealthy amount of cupcakes, we tape up and get out of there.

But 2017 has brought the cupcakes, tape and packing day to you!

(Well, cupcakes are BYO.)

Wonderful little pockets of our Perth community have been getting in touch all year to host their own Community Packing Days with their family and friends. We’ve even had teachers get their students and schools to fundraise, collect and pack their very own food boxes.

Zainab is our Community Liaison Officer, a link between the community and the project. 

“As a community liaison officer I help to facilitate the conversation with community members and groups on how they can engage with the project based on their capacity and circumstances.”

She has contributed to the organisation of every packing day in 2017 so far and has experienced the event firsthand.

“Hosting your own packing is a great way to get together with your community with a greater purpose all while having fun. It allows you to take ownership of the project and make it your own.”

Our Coordinator, Maryam, has had the privilege of seeing this project develop since its inception in Perth.

“Community Packing Days are a huge boost to the project. They help us see how far we’ve come on this journey and it feels really rewarding that the community are picking up this idea and making it their own.”

Community Packing Days have also helped us achieve a project goal which is to raise awareness of HFB’s cause. 

“It shows that people are starting to talk about issues like poverty in Australia over their dinner tables and being prompted to do something about it. It also shows that everyday people can do extraordinary things.”
~ Maryam

Community packing days have empowered our communities to step forward and take on the initiative to give back and better the society in which they live and we couldn’t be more proud to be a part of that.

If you would like to host a packing day with your family and friends, do not hesitate to get in touch with us at hfbperth@gmail.com!