OzHarvest is a non-profit organization that collects excess food from restaurants/events and…read moredelivers to people in need. I have been a volunteer with OzHarvest for a couple of months and I am loving it ! Everyone I met through my volunteering is cool, funny, full of love and warmth. Lisa & team do a great job in organizing various events to promote OzHarvest or rescuing more food :) The process to becoming a volunteer is simple. Just click on their website, contact them. Lisa will invite you to their office for a quick chat, fill up a simple form and you are good to go !

This was not my experience, but that of my Partner, and he came home so ebullient, I have sat him…read moredown and made intensive enquiries about his Corporate experience with them. He gave it a hands down 10 stars out of 5! Mal and his team had organised a three day conference, and they wanted to finish on a high note. They decided that volunteering would provide that outlet. One of the experiences Oz Harvest offer, is, for groups or Corporations to pay $175.00 (+ GST) a head to have a three hour cooking and tasting experience. The group of 24 people showed up and were divided into teams, each team was assigned a chef, who instructed them in hygiene, basic knife skills, basic commercial kitchen skills ("Hot Behind" no knives in the sink, etc.) Each team had a different menu to cook. A team may have 1 to 4 dishes to prepare over a three hour period, using ingredients that would otherwise have been put to waste, but will now be distributed to the homeless. (Pretty cool, Huh?) Mal said that there was a huge amount of laughter and camaraderie generated during the experience, and they prepared about 250 meals that afternoon. They also got to sample what they had made once they had finished. They kept the apron that they were given, and most people bought the Oz Harvest Cook Book, that has recipes from just about every Chef and Celebrity Chef you have ever heard of. I know I said I did not need another cook book, ever, but I am so glad Mal's colleague gave him one! The purchase of the book provides 120 meals. (Go on..Jump on the website and buy one, you know you want to!) Mal said it was one of the most thoroughly "Feel Good" things he has ever done in a team building exercise. I would encourage any of you to suggest this activity if you ever have input into Team Building activities. Obviously, of course, you can just volunteer for all other sorts of things, that do not require you paying anything!

They do t charge except a coin and it's super good food good volunteers that make it for a good…read morecuase

On a Sunday morning, we wanted to explore the Newtown area in Sydney. We stumbled upon Lentil As…read moreAnything. We saw the menu and said why not. Lentil As Anything looks like a hippy hangout. The people who come here look like students, artists, travelers, vagabonds, and the homeless. The waiter told us all that we see comes from donations. He told us to donate after we finished the meal. The waiter offered us a choice of two drinks: a lemon ice tea or a chai black tea. I ordered the tofu and Joseph orders the curry Dahl. Surprisingly, the food tasted delicious. It seems like the staff took pride in preparing it. Located around cultural stores, Lentil As Anything operates as a nonprofit. So they gladly accept volunteers (volunteer time if one cannot pay for the meal), utensils, fresh produce, coffee beans, tea lights. Lentil As Anything wants an electrician. When in town, come to Lentil As Anything. Volunteer, or stop in to say hi.

As we walk into Reverse Garbage in Marrickville we are met with gigantic paint brushes and pencils…read more The exterior of this recycling warehouse is almost an art installation more so than a shop. "You can't look for something here. You just have to look and hope you find something." I am told when I ask what we are looking for. The answer to my innocent question both profound and vague. We scour the aisles looking for props and set pieces for the music video we've been hired to make. The gigantic dinosaur head is no good, nor are the various blow up hippopotami with back packs on. There are buckets full of circuit boards and shelves full of old digitised and erased film and audio reels. It would seem that everything you could ever imagine would be, at one point or another, housed within these walls. There's a book section out back and I sneak in to have a look, I should be looking for music video props but can't help myself and scour the children's section looking for Seuss. No such luck, there never is. I find 'The Little Match Girl' by Hans Christian Anderson and being that it is in great condition and only $1 I decide to buy it, even though I know that it will make me depressed. A warehouse full of everything you need as long as you don't know what you need.

This place is simultaneously the biggest hoarder of crap and a gold-mine. Depending on what you're…read moreafter. If you're after 20 of the same birthday card, 100m long reams of paper, a never ending supply of pipe cleaners, rolls of carpet and maroon velvet or manikin feet and arms, then you may just be in luck. Or, rather, if you're not exactly sure what you're after then you may be in luck here too. I'm a bigger fan of The Bower, a similar joint next door with a tad more class, but a trip to Reverse Garbage can be rewarding - we bought 50 cardboard drums from Reverse Garbage which we used as seating for a performance and then recycled into punch bowls, a fortress and super-sized bowling pins in the future. Perfect for a themed party, you can pretty much base your theme on whatever you find the most of at Reverse Garbage. NB: Specified items may or may not actually be stocked by Reverse Garbage. But rest assured that similar such crap will be.

The Australian Red Cross stores do op shop with style. Not a far cry from your neighborhood Vinnies…read moreor Salvos in terms of selection, their design and display put it step closer to classy. I walked off Oxford and into the Paddington Red Cross shop the other day in search of a facincator for the upcoming Melbourne Cup. To my delight, I found a pretty decent selection as well as a good array of inexpensive costume jewelry. With earrings and bracelets at $5 and necklaces $10-$15, you can afford to pick up that slightly tacky, one-time-wear accessory that will likely get lost behind your bed for the rest of time. In the front of the store you will find a rack of new spring dresses. New should be in quotation marks here, but who's getting picky. I also enjoyed the display of colorful hats hanging on a row of sewing machines. With a few small design details and some organizational care, the Australian Red Cross is in the standing for awesome thrift shop in Paddo. And with a good cause to boot? Well done, you.

Just scored an absolute bargain at Red Threads!! This is going to be my new go-to op shop. So in…read morelove with my new threads.

Wayside has just had a massive revamp, and is looking wicked…read more These guys are doing a great community service and provide a couple of services you can use. First up if you're looking to make some space on your bookshelf wayside have a bookshelf for its visitors so you can rock up and restock that. Also a clothes deposit. Which is really useful, I'm talking to you with the overflowing clothes rack and no built ins. Make some space, you always end up wearing that A-team shirt and those cowboy boots anyway, so why not drop off a few items which can be useful to someone else! I'll five star the wayside as a shout out, it takes all kinds of people to make up our neighbourhood, wayside is one of those joints keeping it real.

From the owner: The Wayside Chapel has provided unconditional love, care and support for people on and around the…read morestreets of Kings Cross since 19