A GENEROUS donation has boosted Foodbank SA Mount Gambier efforts to ensure South East families receive adequate food over the festive break.
Mount Gambier Masonic Lodge worship master Stephen McLeod presented $1000 to Foodbank on behalf of the organisation this month to help fund food relief efforts over the peak Christmas period.
The local Freemasons branch has been in Mount Gambier for over 150 years and has a history of giving back to the community.
“We have what we call the benevolent fund, the few fundraisers we hold and membership fees collected go into it,” Mr McLeod said.
“At our most recent executive meeting we thought about who the best charity would be to support at this time of year.
“Our members decided to give what we could to Foodbank so we can help local families have a better Christmas.”
While there is no specific fundraising involved, The Lodge accepts donations and holds raffles during the year.
“We have some money that has been invested,” Mr Mcleod said.
“When our investment accounts mature, a lot of that money goes into our benevolent fund.
“We wanted to make sure our money stayed local and there is no better charity than Foodbank.”
Foodbank is Australia’s largest food relief organisation and has provided around 334,000 meals across the Limestone Coast in the past 12 months.
“The money donated today will be used to purchase key staple foods that we provide year-round,” Foodbank regional branch manager Lynne Neshoda said.
“Families are really struggling and in the last 12 months we have distributed 152,000 kilos of food, double the amount distributed last year.
“We deliver to 70 other charities within the South East.
“The money donated will enable us to put an additional 2000 meals on the table of those South East residents in need.”
Mr McLeod said the Freemason community aspired to help both Foodbank and other surrounding charities in the future.
“We are a big organisation and the head office in Adelaide does great charitable work, but a lot of that does not come to Mount Gambier,” Mr McLeod said.
“We aim to support Foodbank every year from now on.
“There are a lot of wonderful charities in the region who deserve help, but we would rather donate what we think is a sizeable amount to a charity so they can actually make good use of it.”
