A WORD FROM OUR CEO
Over the past few weeks, Free to Feed has been acknowledged for acting decisively and quickly to support our participants, keep our social enterprise healthy and our valued and talented team in jobs. Reflecting on this period so far, there are four keys that have helped me to draw great strength and optimism for the future.
1. The resilience and wisdom of people seeking asylum (our participants)
Our participants have drawn instinctively, naturally on their deep resilience in pulling through difficult times. They know how it feels for the world to be falling apart around them because they’ve been through it all before. And worse. They know how to stay nourished and sane through calamitous times such as these because they’ve had to do it. Despite having already frayed safety nets currently torn from beneath them by this crisis (which, for many, is exacerbating and deepening social and economic exclusions; not helped by the fact that many remain ineligible for Medicare or Government assistance) our participants are experts at prioritising care for their families, being resourceful and staying safe.
Our “baklava queen” Aheda baking a fresh batch of desserts for our BRAVE MEALS orders.
2. Having a team that is values-led
It has never been more obvious to me how important having a values-led team is. In the past weeks, we’ve had to rethink and reshape virtually everything we do. We’ve swapped producing catered events to distributing emergency relief packs to the homes of our hardest-hit participants and replaced the community spirit emanating from gatherings for wellbeing check-ins through the front fly screens (with social distancing of course) of participants’ homes. How has my team responded to this uncertainty, having their hours reduced and their futures rendered uncertain?? They have stepped UP. They have volunteered and donated (both in-kind and time) and they have treated our mission and our work with the utmost tenderness and respect at this most fragile of times. I’m so in awe of them! I know how challenging this period has been on each of them. But it’s been a breath-taking sight to see their values rising up and shining through!
Not long before the term ‘social distancing’ became commonplace, Free to Feed participants, volunteers and hosts gathered with guests at a Mossy Willow Farm for a farm to table feast.
3. One mission, many paths to it
We exist to ensure that people seeking asylum feel a sense of community connection and financial security. There are many ways of achieving this. It’s been grounding to me to see how, despite having cut our teeth doing things one way, when conditions change, we could still approach our mission in a completely different, though no less whole-hearted or targeted, way. We’ve pivoted to launch Brave Meals, home-delivered meals to nourish our community which is able to provide some basic continuity of employment. It looks different and we’ve had to throw our training plans out the window but critically, some employment is still there. Participant wellbeing also looks very different now: if you told me a month ago that we would be providing emergency relief, and door side check-ins, I would most certainly have laughed and told you “We are not that kind of social enterprise!”. We will continue to innovate because this crisis doesn’t change our mission an inch, just the way we go about achieving it.
4. Steady hands and minds at the top
One final key that I believe has made this all possible is having sound governance and a very strong and present CFO (thank you Jess Colgan) who can shape and re-shape the financial plan and monitor cash flow. Having the right expertise in place gives me the security to focus on navigating so much uncertainty and the ability to lead with intuition and empathy first while ensuring that the numbers support our direction and path.
It’s not going to be easy and we certainly don’t have it all worked out, but I feel really hopeful and optimistic. And it’s for one simple reason: Free to Feed has always been a lightning rod for really good humans, and that has never been as obvious as now.
– LORETTA