By Danielle Kutchel
Every day in the City of Casey there are families unable to afford to put food on the table – but a local charity is hoping to change that, with a little help from the community.
Casey ADRA Café partnered with Berwick burger shop Mad Benji to give some of our most vulnerable a boost through an innovative fundraiser.
On Monday 5 July, Mad Benji ran a ‘pay as you feel’ day, where customers were asked to pay what they felt for a meal plus more if their heart prompted them.
All of Monday’s profits were donated to ADRA, to help the organisation to continue to feed those in need.
All up, ADRA received $5809.93.
As part of the day, ADRA also covered the costs of a meal for some of their clients, so that they too had the opportunity to experience a restaurant meal – something that many would be unable to afford usually.
Project manager for Casey ADRA Café, BB, said the organisation was pleased to see Mad Benji “open their hearts to the community”.
While the organisation did not have a set fundraising target, BB said any money raised would make a difference.
ADRA is currently providing 5000 cooked meals a week and supplying food hampers of fresh produce and non-perishables to nearly 800 families.
Benji, owner of Mad Benji, said the shop was always looking for a way to help the local community.
“We wanted the proceeds to go directly to the people in need,” he said, adding that getting in touch with ADRA meant this was exactly what would happen.
“We are very fortunate, enough to be able to support and help others less fortunate. Any help is good,” he said.
He said the café’s regular patrons had been supportive of the event.
One of those customers, Jack Hurst, visited with his son to pick up some coffees and contribute to ADRA.
“It’s nice to be able to help people in the community,” he said.
“Mad Benji are part of the community themselves, so it’s nice that they give back and we can all help. They’re really generous.”
Federal member for Bruce, Julian Hill, also dropped in for a chai and a cookie, and said he was blown away by the work ADRA was doing.
“The event is absolutely fantastic – a local business welcoming the community in and raising money for such a good cause,” he said.
BB said the ADRA is always looking for more hands to cater to the demand.
Her dream is to expand the program – which is currently run from her house – to a warehouse somewhere in Casey.
This would allow ADRA to pack more meals, open its own pay-as-you-feel café and employ disadvantaged young people to give them a leg up into a career.
Anyone interested in donating to ADRA or volunteering can visit https://www.facebook.com/ADRACasey
