The BioEthanol team from Yarraville took some time out of the office this week to pack food hampers for people in need.

It was the first time our BioEthanol employees have volunteered for Foodbank and, according to Ethanol and Trading Business Manager Trevor Barr, it won’t be the last.

“It was a really good opportunity to do something together as a team, outside of work, while giving back to the community,” Mr Barr said.

“Everyone who took part was keen to do it again.”

The Foodbank distribution centre is down the road from the Yarraville premises where the BioEthanol team is co-located with Sugar Australia.

“Our Sugar Australia colleagues have had a long-running partnership with Foodbank, donating both sugar and volunteer hours over a number of years,” Mr Barr said.

“I suggested doing a volunteer day to our sales, customer service and logistics staff, and they were all really supportive.”

On Tuesday (13 August), nine team members headed down the road to Foodbank and spent six hours packing food hampers for people who can’t afford to feed themselves or their families.

A skeleton crew - Naani Scott, David Podesta and Mandip Singh - stayed at the office to man the fort.

The BioEthanol volunteers packed more than 7,000 meals for people in need.

“It was a great experience for the team,” Mr Barr said.

“It raised awareness of just how much need there is out there, and it was a really positive team-building activity.”

Foodbank provides food and grocery relief to more than 2,800 frontline charities and 3,300 school breakfast programs in Australia to help feed people in need.

Last year, Foodbank sourced enough food for 92 million meals.