Christmas for about 40 local families has been saved by the community, says Angels for the Forgotten founder Melina Skidmore.
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Last week, she received a truckload of supplies from Foodbank NSW only to find melted ice cream and 30kg of warm meats.
The temperature on the delivery contractor’s truck had not been set correctly, so the food, with a retail value of a few thousand dollars, had to be thrown away.
It was only five days before volunteers were set to deliver the Christmas hampers to families in the region.
Wanting to share what had happened, Ms Skidmore took to social media and posted photos of the ruined goods.
Within 24 hours, she was inundated with calls from Goulburn businesses and community members pledging their support.
Fife Financial Services donated 23 chickens and posted a call-out to businesses to donate food for the hampers. Among those were Angella Storrier Real Estate, who donated 18 more chickens.
Now Ms Skidmore feels reassured that about 40 families will still be able to receive hampers this Christmas.
“I see it as the community saving Christmas,” she said. “All charities have such a demand this Christmas, and we were really panicked. It was good everyone saw it and reacted positively.
“We want to say a massive thank you to people who have jumped on board.”
Foodbank NSW and ACT chief executive Gerry Andersen offered to personally drive the truck of food originally ordered to the Goulburn site on Monday, to ensure everything would be ready for the hamper delivery on Wednesday.
“We take these things seriously,” Mr Andersen said, confirming the company would make contact with the delivery truck contractor.
“The local community helped and it’s wonderful. We get 99.9 per cent of it right, but this time something went wrong.”
About 230 tonnes a week of Foodbank supplies are transported in the state, with 40 per cent of that to regional NSW, he told the Post.
About 40 families will receive hampers from Angels for the Forgotten in Goulburn this Christmas.