Generosity of three families shining a light on the stress of Xmas
THREE local families have created a generous initiative, Donate a Dinner, to provide 100 Sunshine Coast families doing it tough, with a Christmas Dinner box, to take the stress off the holiday season.
Glasshouse Mountains locals Angela and Luke Dengate usually donate to charities around Christmas time to help those in need, but this year, the couple wanted to do something different.
This is when they recruited the help of two other families, Glasshouse family Ezra and Rei Turner, and Warana family Brett and Erin McManus, to help make a difference locally.
The idea is that by gifting a dinner to a family in need you are not only gifting the meal but the experience for them to all sit together and enjoy a meal without the additional stress of how to pay for it.
All dinner boxes are filled with fresh ingredients and instructions to make the perfect Roast Dinner -with a few surprises too!
Angela said anyone can nominate any family to receive a donate a dinner box – themselves included – and it can also be done anonymously.
“You can nominate anyone who is struggling this year, poverty doesn’t discriminate,” she said.
“You could be driving a nice car and have a nice house with a mortgage, but you still don’t know how you’re going to put food on the table,” she said.
“This year has taught us that so many families are struggling because of the housing crisis, the interest rate crisis, the food crisis, most everyday Australians are struggling.”
The families of Donate a Dinner, are urging people to come forward with many dinner boxes up for grabs. Angela was thrilled with the response from the community wanting to help support this initiative, including businesses and volunteers to help deliver the dinner boxes.
“We rang Mountainview Poultry in Glasshouse and talked to them and they’re going to give us some chickens at a really good price and the Matilda Fruit Barn in Glasshouse is going to help us out with the fruit and vegetables,” she said.
“Everyone has been really incredible, we didn’t want them to donate anything, because we are all small businesses so we don’t want people to be out of pocket.
The cut off to nominate families to donate a dinner to for Christmas is December 15, with community elves delivering the dinner boxes, including candy canes and Christmas crackers on December 22.
donateadinner.com.au