Louise Fisher is a member of Melbourne’s Jewish community and likes to dedicate time to volunteering and helping those less fortunate.  When the pandemic began in March 2020, Fisher became increasingly alarmed at the stories that she was reading about fellow Melbournians who were struggling with poverty and disadvantage during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wanting to do something to help people who were in need, she teamed up with Gina Poulos a member of Melbourne’s Greek Orthodox community who runs Theodora’s Cheerful Givers in Seaford.

“Gina Poulos is the most incredible human being,” says Fisher. “She gives and gives and gives; she has this big warehouse in Seaford where she feeds the hungry and clothes the poor, I’m in awe of how much good she does.”

In the Greek and wider community, Poulos’s charity work is widely recognized, including being awarded Citizen of the Year in Frankston City Council.

Poulos’s admiration for Fisher is mutual.

“I love Louise, she is one of those kind generous people that wants to help everyone; we met a few years ago and I told her about what we do; how we feed whoever needs food, no matter their nationality or age, and ever since we met, she has been an amazing help,” says Poulos.

Gina Poulos. Photo: Supplied

Before Jewish New Year in September, Fisher felt concerned that the situation in Melbourne, with one of the longest lockdowns in the world would be particularly hard for many people.

“I knew so many people were having a hard time, so I thought it was the perfect time to organize a charity drive in conjunction with Gina’s organization,” says Fisher.

Fisher thought of a simple idea: she asked members of Jewish community to donate five things from their pantries to people who were experiencing food insecurity.

“A few weeks before I decided to organize a food drive, Gina had called me and told me that her organization was experiencing a 70% increase in requests for assistance, so I decided to see if I could help her,” says Fisher.

It was important to Fisher that the contributions wouldn’t add to the burden of people in Melbourne.

“I didn’t want people to spend lots of money, as I am aware that many people are having a hard time,” she says. “I just wanted people to consider donating five items from their pantry that they were happy to part with to help those in need,” she says.

Fisher posted her call for donations on a Facebook group called “J-Seek” which was established six years ago by Jewish community member Leeor Chabat. He is a millennial that created the group in 2015 with an aim to connect people to wider networks of trust people within the community. The group is used to crowdsource all kinds of handy information, including posts asking for recommendations of reliable trades people or information about how to return lost items found in the local area.

“I started the Facebook group about 6 six years ago,” remarks Chabat. “The Jewish community is a beautiful community, we are close-knit and sometimes it’s easier to seek out someone who is known as trusted and reliable within our networks,” he says. With over 17,000 members and a parallel group in Sydney and Brooklyn, New York, the idea of J-Seek has clearly resonated.

So, when Fisher posted her request on J-Seek Victoria, she was hopeful that some of the group members would feel inclined to give and she in turn would be able to provide Poulos with a few hundred dollars of donated groceries to help those in need via Theodora’s Cheerful Givers.

“I thought 20 people would respond, but the enthusiasm to help those less fortunate was incredible,” says Fisher. “It was an enormous response, it took on another life of its own, it became a class project for some, with the year two class at Mount Scopus Memorial College [a local Jewish school] each donating items as well as other local creches and organisations,” she says.

Louise Fisher with Mila and some of the donations for Theodora’s Cheerful Givers. Photo: Supplied

Fisher was soon inundated and within a few days she had more than $10,000 of food donations ready to donate to Poulos to hand out to the needy.

“It was really humbling, because everyone just kept thanking me for giving them an opportunity to help other people in need in Melbourne at this time,” reflected Fisher.

Chabat knows his J-Seek platform has been the source of much goodness, and although he originally created it to connect people together and seek out services they may need, he doesn’t take credit for the thousands of good deeds that his platform has facilitated.

“I can’t take credit for all the charity work, I just work to moderate the Facebook group every single day,” he says. “There are lots of charities that use this platform and it’s a great resource to help find volunteers and people who want to give back in the way that Louise Fisher organized,” he says.

As for Poulos, she doesn’t just serve the Greek community, she serves anyone who seeks her out requesting help or a kind ear.

She grateful to Fisher for all her help with the recent food drive.

“That beautiful woman, Louise works so hard and asked the Jewish community to give food and they gave and responded very enthusiastically to her call and now we have tones of produce to give out,” she told me happily on the phone when we spoke earlier this month.

“I thank God for what we have got and the fact we are able to help those less fortunate,” Poulos says.

She is also happy that the Greek and Jewish communities have been able to work together to help people experiencing poverty and sadness during this difficult time in Melbourne.

“We are just glad that we have been able to jointly do something to help others during this time,” she says happily.

Nomi Kaltmann is a regular contributor to a range of Jewish Diaspora and Greek Diaspora media outlets