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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line is Peter Pills, the Food

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Speaker 1: Bank NT CEO. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Peter, Good morning Katie, and good morning to everyone who's listening. Peter.

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Speaker 1: It's been a busy year for Food Bank, no doubt

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Speaker 1: about it. How did that Christmas food hamper drive go

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Speaker 1: in the end, to begin with.

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Speaker 2: Went absolutely fantastic. We have raised about six ton of food,

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Speaker 2: which is.

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Speaker 1: We seem to have lost We lost you for a

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Speaker 1: moment there, Peter, what was that lost me? About six

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Speaker 1: six ton of food?

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Speaker 2: Yes, six tons of food and just the support from

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Speaker 2: the community, you know as they went into the to

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Speaker 2: the grocery stores and purchased food for our food drive.

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Speaker 2: It has just been amazing. So to everybody who gave

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Speaker 2: thank you, to the to the grocery stores that supported us, Wallies,

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Speaker 2: Coals and Ida, thank you. And also to the corporate

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Speaker 2: so did food drives for us as well, which is

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Speaker 2: just great.

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Speaker 1: That's amazing six ton to put that into perspective for us, Peter,

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Speaker 1: how many Territorians is that going to support?

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Speaker 2: Well, last year we packed four hundred and ninety Christmas

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Speaker 2: hampers and this year on the new CEO, so I

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Speaker 2: thought well, let's think it'd be bigger. Let's pack a thousand,

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Speaker 2: and we almost got to a thousand, and then we

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Speaker 2: received an order for an additional five hundred and sixty.

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Speaker 2: So ultimately we packed sixteen hundred hampers and then delivered

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Speaker 2: them across Darwin. Catherine Nullen Boy Tenant and I personally

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Speaker 2: went down to Alice Springs and delivered a hundred to

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Speaker 2: Alice Spring So how many families does it feed? Fifteen hundred?

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Speaker 1: That is amazing?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it really is just being great.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's phenomenal. What you know, that is just wonderful

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Speaker 1: to hear that Territorians have supported food Bank in that way,

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Speaker 1: whether we're talking about corporates, whether you're talking about about individuals,

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Speaker 1: no matter what, that is phenomenal. What sort of have

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Speaker 1: you delivered those hampers years? And what's been I mean

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Speaker 1: obviously you're have in some places. Are they all now delivered?

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Speaker 1: And what's been the feedback from people as those hampers

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Speaker 1: have been delivered?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? So every hamper has gone out now. Yeah, obviously

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Speaker 2: we're three days, three days outside of Christmas, and so

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Speaker 2: it's important that you know the hamps are already gone.

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Speaker 2: The feedback we're getting back is just people are just

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Speaker 2: so grateful because they were facing Christmas, you know, with

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Speaker 2: food insecurity, and what we tried to do is just

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Speaker 2: put a few Christmas extra things in the hampers, yeah,

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Speaker 2: bond bonds and you know, some lollies for the kids

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Speaker 2: and stuff like that. So some good stable foods so

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Speaker 2: you know, families can have a good Christmas meal, but

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Speaker 2: also just a few things to bring some smiles to

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Speaker 2: faces as well. And we've just found people just are

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Speaker 2: so appreciative of the gifts and.

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Speaker 1: Peter, has it been a busier year for Food Bank?

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Speaker 1: When you talk about the impacts of COVID we know

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Speaker 1: that quite a few people have either lost their jobs

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Speaker 1: or their hours have been decreased. How has that impacted

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Speaker 1: Food Bank in terms of the need of the great

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Speaker 1: work that you guys do.

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Speaker 2: So in the last quarter of the last financial year,

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Speaker 2: our demand for our services was up sixty one percent.

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Speaker 2: That equates an additional eighty six thousand meals being processed

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Speaker 2: in that quarter in addition to what we normally do. Wow,

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Speaker 2: so the need is significant. We have seen a step

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Speaker 2: up in the need at the end of September when

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Speaker 2: the job seeker payment was wound back a little, and

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Speaker 2: we're expecting to see a significant increase come much when

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Speaker 2: it's wound back completely.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Peter, if there's anybody out there listening right now

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Speaker 1: who maybe still wants to make a donation or they

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Speaker 1: still want to support Food Bank, are they still able

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Speaker 1: to do that ahead of Christmas?

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Speaker 2: They can? What we don't need food donations right now,

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Speaker 2: obviously the hampers have gone out, Yep. What we need

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Speaker 2: now is people are sitting there listening and saying, hey,

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Speaker 2: I want to help if you could go to the

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Speaker 2: Food Bank NTY website and make a donation of finance,

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Speaker 2: because what we found in the past is, you know,

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Speaker 2: the people that we've helped in the lead up to

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Speaker 2: Christmas are still going to be hungry in January, and

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Speaker 2: so we need to now position the warehouse in terms

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Speaker 2: of supplies to be able to meet the demand come January.

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Speaker 1: And it's such important work that Food Bank do. And

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Speaker 1: I think that you know, you and I have spoken before,

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Speaker 1: and I've spoken and done quite a bit with Food

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Speaker 1: Bank in the past, and we know that you know,

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Speaker 1: very often people who need a hand up ahead of Christmas,

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Speaker 1: particularly in this COVID year. You know, it's everyday Territorians.

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Speaker 1: People have had a really tough year and if you

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Speaker 1: want to be able to help someone, making a donation

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Speaker 1: to food Bank is a great way to do that.

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Speaker 2: And look, I moved up in January, very hard to

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Speaker 2: the territory, and one of the things that I've observed

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Speaker 2: in the territory is the leaning from the community and

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Speaker 2: from corporate to help vulnerable territoriums. And the sense of

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Speaker 2: community up here and the fact that we want to

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Speaker 2: help those that are doing it tough is just absolutely phenomenal.

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Speaker 2: It really is.

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Speaker 1: Well, Peter, is there anything else we should know about

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Speaker 1: from the wonderful team at food Bank ahead of Christmas?

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Speaker 2: Just Merry Christmas to everyone that's listening on behalf of

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Speaker 2: my staff, the incredible volunteer team. We would just like

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Speaker 2: to wish you a merry Christmas, stay safe and let's

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Speaker 2: hope that twenty twenty one is not like twenty twenty. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, Peter, Merry Christmas to you, to all of your

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Speaker 1: staff and on behalf of the Northern Territory community, a

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Speaker 1: big thank you for the wonderful work that you and

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Speaker 1: your team do.

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Speaker 2: No worries. Thank you, Katie, thank you