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so the idea of a reverse advent calendar
is that it changes the focus instead of
thinking about what you're receiving it
makes people think about what they can
give
my name is heather luttrell and i'm the
coordinator or founder of reverse advent
calendar in australia
you start with an empty box and instead
of taking something out every day you
put something in so food or toiletries
and christmas treats for 20 days and at
that point the box is usually pretty
full and the box is then donated to a
food release agency where it can then be
given to a family in need
i was really seeing the power of it and
the impact on my family it really just
planted this seed in me that there was
something bigger in this and i really
wanted to see more people do it
so i put on facebook would any of my
friends like to join me and i thought
maybe i would find four friends that
would join us that year well the
response was incredible we ended up with
over 70 boxes
i loved it like it was amazing and i
just loved seeing how much other people
got from it and then seeing the combined
boxes come together to know what a
difference it would make
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which blows my mind to think that from
one box in my family in just four years
it's become four thousand families or
individuals across australia they will
have more food in their tummies and also
that feeling of
that they've been cared for
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[Applause]
we hear stories like mums who because of
that food they're able to free up a bit
of their own money to purchase their
children a christmas present one asylum
seeker family where their dad was able
to choose not to work on christmas day
because they could afford because of a
box be able to be with his children on
christmas day
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people often say
at such a busy time at christmas you
know how are you managing but i find it
energizes me it just
gives me so much joy and excitement but
i would love to get to a point where
anybody in australia who wants to get
involved and build a reverse effect
calendar box would be able to access one
and do it
you