Connecting community in the Upper Yarra Valley

Our volunteer teams who run the LinC Yarra Valley community outreach programs play a vital role in connecting the local community in the Upper Yarra Valley. With a focus on empowering our customers and clients, we reach over 400 families each week through our Crisis Support, five Social Supermarkets (previously referred to as the fresh food program, or Second Bite) and LinC Play, our Yarra Junction playgroup.

Our crisis support assists individuals and families in times of crisis. For anyone living in the areas with the postcodes 3799, 3797, 3139, 3140, 3138 or 3777 our crisis support can assist the local community in times of crisis with bill help and petrol vouchers. Led by Deb Franzen, we are blessed to have such a friendly and caring team who are there to chat and help you in your time of need.

Our team can also connect you to the community through referrals to:

• our other programs for help with fresh and pantry food items, frozen meals, food delivery
• social connection by volunteering
• playgroup for families with pre-school aged children.

Once our team better understands your specific needs, they can also refer you to our network of agencies for housing, mental health and allied health, legal support, family and domestic violence support, and advice for budgeting and debt issues. We like to think of this team as compassionate angels who really care about the welfare of our clients.

Our volunteers are very dedicated and some of our crisis support team also work as volunteers on Fridays during the school term at LinC Play.

We are so thankful for their hard work, compassion and kindness.

Social Supermarkets

While all of our programs are overseen by our General Manager, Julie Szabo, our Social Supermarkets are predominantly run by volunteers who are committed to working across the week to ensure our five sites are stocked with fresh food and pantry items when we open the door to the public each Friday. So much happens behind the scenes in the lead up to Friday, with the pick up, re-distribution and packing of items across our network.

Each of our five sites has built lasting and essential relationships with local suppliers who play a key role in donating to our program as well as helping some of our sites with discounted prices on essential fresh food, like carrots and potatoes, for our customers.

Multiple freezers are packed with items, bulk items are re-packed to ensure they reach as many families as possible and special trips are made to local suppliers and partners, like Aldi Supermarkets, who contact our volunteer team to alert us to the availability of items for our social supermarkets.

Here are some of the volunteers from our Mooroolbark social supermarket, the Goodness Gracious network. This site has deep connections with the local community and an ongoing relationship with the local grocer, Mooroolbark Fresh. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Neil, Phil and this volunteer team for all of their hard work.

We would also like to thank all of our dedicated volunteers who work across the Yarra Junction, Millgrove, Wandin North and Woori Yallock sites. The connection you create through your weekly commitment and hard work is a valuable contribution to the individuals and families we serve.

A Prayer for Our Volunteers