When Cheryne El Hawat and her charity AusRelief encountered struggling families who were still reluctant to accept donated food, they found a simple but effective solution: Woolworths bags.
For some people, it is simply a matter of pride. They don’t want their neighbours, family members or children’s school friends to see them unloading boxes of food aid. Putting it in branded supermarket bags lets them “maintain their dignity”.
Cheryne El Hawat, chief operating officer at AusRelief, won the “emerging leader” award at this year’s Sydney Awards.Credit: Brook Mitchell
It’s a common sentiment heard at food banks and charity drives across Sydney – for families who need help, overcoming their own sense of shame or embarrassment is often the biggest hurdle.
El Hawat, the chief operating officer at AusRelief, received the Committee for Sydney think tank’s “emerging leader” award on Wednesday night for her role in helping feed the hungry in south-western Sydney and beyond.
The medium-sized charity was established in 2014 and predominantly works on overseas projects, including in Cambodia where El Hawat runs the office. But as the cost of living crisis has worsened, her work at home has grown markedly.
During the pandemic, the charity partnered with Cumberland Council, which takes in areas such as Auburn and Greystanes, to deliver emergency relief packages that included cereal, juice, pasta and wipes. El Hawat says volunteers brought back horror stories of people isolated who had lost their jobs, were isolated from their families and couldn’t feed their children.
They realised one of the best ways to get donations to families who needed it most was through school welfare officers, who know their community inside out. AusRelief currently has about 20 schools on its list, and the figure is growing.
“We sponsor a few breakfast clubs at some public schools,” she says. “We were being told the meals [the children] were having at school were sometimes the only meals that they were having.”
El Hawat, 30, grew up in Greenacre near Bankstown, the daughter of Lebanese migrants. She has degrees in law and psychology from the University of NSW, but was never interested in a corporate legal career, instead joining AusRelief as a volunteer five years ago and rising rapidly thanks in part to her frankness.
“I didn’t have any issues telling the board with what I thought they were doing wrong,” she says.
Many of her clients are single mothers or survivors of domestic violence doing their best to escape the poverty cycle. There are also refugee families who don’t always have access to the same public benefits. El Hawat says there are lots of services out there for those in need, but they are being overwhelmed.
“My mum works at Centrelink, and she says the phones just don’t stop ringing,” El Hawat says.
The annual Sydney Awards, handed out on Wednesday night at the Hilton hotel, recognise outstanding contributions by Sydneysiders. Also honoured were musician William Barton, best known as Australia’s pre-eminent didgeridoo player, Blacktown City Council chief executive and western Sydney champion Kerry Robinson, and the City of Sydney’s “bike saint” Fiona Campbell, who wants Sydney to follow in Amsterdam’s footsteps as a cycling paradise.
Two ex-bureaucrats, the Greater Cities Commission’s former chief commissioner Geoff Roberts, and the former chief executive of the Western Parkland City Authority Sarah Hill, also received the “city visionary” award.
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