As part of the 2019 CICA Conference, Franna® teamed up with leading merchandise supplier Runsmart who are supporting Foodbank Queensland in their fight against hunger! For every duffel bag Franna sponsored at CICA, Runsmart donated the equivalent of one meal to Foodbank in Queensland.

Lorelle Silveira, Head of Fundraising at Foodbank Queensland explains the importance of the organisation: “Foodbank is Australia’s largest food relief organisation. Last year in Queensland, we rescued and diverted 12.8 million kilograms of perfectly edible food and groceries from landfill to provide 23 million meals for people in need. Foodbank supplies a network of charities who require food relief, be it for drought, disaster or for low income families. One in five Australians are currently food insecure or do not know where there next meal is coming from, and it’s not just people on the streets, its people in your street.”

 “We really wanted to make a difference with our charity initiatives”, said Rashpal Cheema, Director at Runsmart, “which is why we chose to partner with Foodbank Queensland. After visiting the local Foodbank warehouse in Brisbane, I was blown away by the work they do. We’ve agreed to donate a meal to an Aussie in need for every custom designed and manufactured item we sell. This is an ongoing arrangement for the foreseeable future, and we’ve set ourselves a goal to donate 50,000 meals in the first 12 months. We’re thrilled that Franna — an iconic Australian brand — was part of launching this initiative through the custom bags they sourced for the 2019 CICA conference.”

Danny Black, Franna General Manager is 100% behind the initiative: “Franna is delighted to support Foodbank Queensland in partnership with our friends at Runsmart. It’s nice to know that every bag given to our CICA delegates this year has provided a meal for someone in need. The facts and figures around food insecurity in Australia are really quite astonishing and we hope this initiative helps raise awareness of this issue so it can receive the level of support it fully deserves.”

Brandon Hitch, CICA CEO - “The crane industry has a commendable track record for supporting charities and the local community.  I commend Franna and Runsmart for working together to make a positive impact in the community by supporting Foodbank to help fight hunger and food insecurity impacting many Australian families.”

You can support the fight against hunger by volunteering or donating here: https://foodbankqueenslanddonate.org/