Cindy Lambert’s Give Hub provides the community with a simple way to give back at Christmas.
Forestville local Cindy Lambert saw a Melbourne-based Instagram post in 2021 about giving back at Christmas which sparked her to start The Give Hub.
“I saw an Instagram post around grabbing a box, filling it with non- perishable food items and donating it to a food relief agency. That really resonated with me and I thought I’d like to be involved,” Cindy tells Peninsula Living.
Cindy contacted the Melbourne organiser of the Reverse Advent Calendar, became a co-ordinator in Sydney and bought 20 empty boxes. This grew to 100 boxes, which were filled with food items and donated to various charities.
Despite running her own conveyancing business, Cindy found time to deliver 1,650 boxes in 2022 to eight different charities. As well as her time, Cindy had to pay for the empty boxes herself as the Reverse Advent Calendar wasn’t a registered charity.
“People were asking me questions. Is this a registered charity? Is there any insurance? And because it was operating as an initiative out of Victoria, the answer was no,” Cindy explains.
“And my question was, ‘why aren’t the boxes being sponsored?’ And the answer to that was because it wasn’t a registered charity. You can’t give a tax receipt, so you can’t get donations.”
Cindy had already used about $2,000 of her own money and says she couldn’t continue without corporate sponsorship.
With Reverse Advent Calendar’s blessing, Cindy approached registered charity One Meal Northern Beaches, which services many charities including Community Northern Beaches and Northern Beaches Women’s Shelter, and became a registered volunteer. She is now running The Give Hub as part of One Meal and receives sponsorship.
“I wrote off to a whole bunch of businesses,” says Cindy. “GJ Gardner Homes Sydney North came on board and gave us a large contribution to enable us to have our boxes professionally designed and printed.”
“We also had a bunch of smaller businesses that donated small amounts of money. And that’s enabled us to get some tissue paper printed and some custom tape so that the idea is when the box is received, it feels like a gift,” she adds.
For Christmas this year, The Give Hub has already distributed over 3,000 boxes to 78 different suburbs on the Beaches and beyond. Once the boxes are filled with suggested food items, there are multiple drop-off locations, including Cindy’s home in Forestville.
Last year, Wilson Storage in Forestville donated the use of two vans so the boxes could be taken to the One Meal warehouse.
Cindy delivered 1,650 boxes in 2022.
Volunteers check the boxes for quality, ensuring that no food is out of date or perishable. “We double-check the contents to make sure there is a good variety of things in the box.
“It can actually feed an individual or a family with 25 serves,” Cindy explains.
Local politicians Zali Steggall and Sophie Scamps have jumped on board this year and have made their offices pick-up and drop-off points.
Once the boxes are checked at Cindy’s house, One Meal distributes them to 25 charities who donate to people in need.
“People like to give back, especially at Christmas,” Cindy says. “A lot of people are (return donors) from last year because they like the idea that it’s a simple and easy way to give back.”
Most boxes will be dropped off at Cindy’s house by 2 December, but the community may still be able to help this year. Cindy will update The Give Hub website to indicate whether donations are still needed in early December.
Volunteers and financial contributions are always welcome: givehub.com.au