Stories of #GoodChange
Hampers for a Warmer Winter
It's not just the hampers, but the social message of care... you are providing the message of care.
Yes you heard correctly… we successfully secured funding from Multicultural NSW to deliver hampers to Culturally and Linguistically diverse communities. Cue our Winter Warmer Hamper Campaign 2021!
This year we had the privilege of working alongside the Australian Burma Community Development Network (ABCDN) to deliver hampers with essential items to the Sydney Myanmar Community. Considering the after effects of COVID-19 as well as the events in Myanmar, this year’s hamper aimed to ease some of the mental stress felt by the Sydney Myanmar Community.
Take a look at some of the items in the winter warmer hamper:
Bag of rice, bottle of cooking oil, box of Jasmine tea, chocolate, Paw Paw toothpaste, Paw Paw face cream, face masks, socks, hand sanitiser, postcard w/ colouring in picture, box of Nongshim Chapagetti Noodles and $20 Woolworths grocery gift voucher
Pretty awesome right! Along with these items, the project allowed the Myanmar Community to come together safely, for the first time in a long time, to reconnect and socialise with one another.
Through our conducted survey, we found that coming together as a community was extremely important.
Our distribution day was held at the Berala Community Centre on Saturday 29th May. Over 100 recipients came through the doors to receive their winter warmer hamper and come together as a community.
On the day, we had the pleasure of interviewing three well-respected leaders within the Sydney Myanmar Community. They shared their insights on the impact of the Winter Warmer Hamper and shed some light on the ongoing political situation in Burma. Take a look at a snippet of our interviews below with Dr Thein Moe Win, a representative of the Muslim Burmese Community, Steven Win Htut, Christian Youth Pastor, and Sam Lwin: Public Officer at ABCDN.
Do you think the hamper will have an impact on the recipient's mental health and well-being?
It can have a kind of good impact up to a certain stage. Some may have financial difficulties, some may have some sort of disadvantaged family issues or financial constraints, or for them it is a kind of relief, getting not just the gifts, it is kind of a social message, the care. It’s very important that along with this gift you are providing the message of care. On the other hand, from their (Burmese Muslim Community) point of view they are contributing, they don’t want to put their hands up to receive the hampers at first, they just want to contribute.
DR. THEIN MOE WIN
How do you think the hamper may relieve a bit of stress that the Burmese Community is feeling?
When this kind of thing happens, sometimes you gather the family and the community and see the goodness in humanity – one another. The hamper, what could it help? It helps that someone is remembering it’s about them. The number one human need is that someone cares. It just showed that the winter warmer hamper is not only about what is inside, it showed that someone actually does care for them. I really believe that right now, the most effective way is to show care to each other. Put trust back in the humanitarians, put trust back in one another.
STEVEN WIN HTUT
What does it mean to receive support from Good Neighbors Australia? And how do you think these hampers will relieve some of the mental stress?
I think that this gesture from Good Neighbours Australia means a lot to us. Especially people from Myanmar. We have been trying to do a lot of things to help people in Myanmar, trying to lobby political groups and so on. When these voices are not heard… We feel that Good Neighbours not just say but actually selected Sydney Myanmar Community as recipients, that means a lot to us. We are sincerely grateful for Good Neighbours Assistance… that someone else apart from the Myanmar community cares for us. Especially during this time of anxiety and when we feel we are most vulnerable.
SAM LWIN
This Winter Warmer Hamper project would not have been possible without Multicultural NSW and our generous and loyal sponsors!
Thank you to Raydel (Rainbow & Nature) for donating hand sanitisers, Sinicare for donating face cream, toothpaste and face masks and Nongshim for donating a whopping 260 boxes of noodles! Your support does not go unnoticed.
