Marcus Godinho

My responsibilities: Developing One Umbrella’s direction and managing staff and volunteers. I’m also involved in fundraising, communicating with supporters, reporting to the board of directors and the organisation’s administration.

Our team: We have four employees and last year 850 volunteers worked with us.

Our greatest challenges: Increasing the amount of food we rescue and making more meals to meet the growing need for emergency food relief. Sourcing appropriate storage when offered large volumes of food at very short notice. Finding charities and agencies to take food we can’t store and getting it to them. Raising public awareness of hunger and malnutrition issues here in Melbourne.

How we manage skilled volunteers: It’s vital to understand the needs of individuals and companies offering staff to volunteer. We provide appropriate training for tasks to be performed, give honest, sensitive feedback, and acknowledge our volunteers’ contribution.

Tips for working with skilled volunteers: Think creatively about using volunteers to perform tasks that will save employing someone. Provide concise briefs and explain how the project will help your organisation. Involve skilled volunteers in strategic discussions.

What I find most rewarding: The daily feedback from emergency relief charities visiting our kitchen to collect 100, 200, maybe 400 meals to distribute to people they support. They are so grateful. It’s good to know that our free meals save precious funds for soup vans, homeless shelters, and food banks.