Demand for assistance from Marrickville’s Addi Road Food Pantry has increased by 20 per cent.

As lockdown begins to bite, an army of volunteers step up at Addi Road to meet surging demand for food relief.

The holiday season is supposed to be a fun and festive time spent with friends and family, but for those doing it tough, it can be the total opposite. That’s why former Socceroo Craig Foster and the Addison Road Community Organisation, are creating 1000 ‘Hampers of Hope’ filled with groceries and goods. The baskets will be delivered to those less fortunate - including international students, victims of domestic violence, the homeless, casual workers who have been left vulnerable as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and more – to show them they’re cared for this Christmas. Sunrise star Sam Mac spent Tuesday morning with Foster and Addison Road’s incredible team of volunteers as they packed the hampers to hear how you can help.

Chef Neil Perry prepares meals each week for Addi Road to distribute to the local community who have fallen through the cracks of the Covid economic crisis.\

This week the International news agency FRANCE 24 visited Addi Road to meet with International students who have been severly affected by the Covid pandemic.

The day after he lost his job, Peru closed its borders and there are no commercial flights operating for him to get back.

The 21st of May marked the end of Ramadan, a Holy month in the Muslim calendar marked by packed Mosques and evening feasts with family. Between social isolation restrictions and food price hikes, COVID-19 dramatically impacted how Ramadan was celebrated this year. In Marrickville, the Addison Road Community Centre Organisation or Addi Road, quickly transformed a local hall into a food deployment operation to help those struggling through Ramadan. We joined by Rosanna Barbero, CEO of Addison Road Community Centre Organisation.

Volunteers have remained on the frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic, whether it be packaging food for those in need, or checking in on the vulnerable.

"At a time like this — an unprecedented health crisis — we don't make a distinction between a citizen or a non-citizen, everybody is in need," ARCCO chief executive Rosanna Barbero said.

@sbsnews_au story on the amazing work at Lakemba Mosque yesterday helping vulnerable people with food hampers and bringing communities together for one another in a demonstration of true Australian values of fairness, inclusion, acceptance and shared humanity.

The amazing guys at Addison Road Community Centre are being assisted by local sporting club volunteers, including some former Sydney Swans Kieran Jack and Nick Smith and current Captain, Luke Parker.

With stadiums, courts and ovals empty, Aussie athletes are starting to use their free time to help local communities, and they want players from all codes to join them #PlayForLives.

Ellen Fanning joins Ian Hickie, Adele Ferguson, Nyadol Nyuon and Amanda Vanstone to discuss the latest on COVID-19 including whether we need more support for international students - some who've turned to charity for help.

Former Socceroo Foster and AFL legend Goodes are spearheading a new campaign to encourage grassroots athletes who have no games to play to sign up as volunteers to help the elderly and disadvantaged.

The Addison Road Food Pantry, a food relief operation in Marrickville run by the Addison Road Community Organisation (ARCO), is experiencing a substantial surge in users since the COVID-19 coronavirus began infecting Australians.

After years of professional sports becoming increasingly detached from the communities they came from, Craig Foster hopes adversity can bring the two together.

Addison Road Community Centre Organisation chief executive Rosanna Barbero said working with Foster was "one of the best working relationships we've had and we love him".

You wish this was true. But you know it’s a lie. And you know they know they are lying too. And they don’t care about their lies. Of course, it’s a class war. A war on a huge and growing underclass.

Last week the Addison Road Community Centre celebrated a huge milestone by launching the W.O.W. (War on Waste) Inner West campaign. This launch is a culmination of years of hard work, dedicated Addi Road staff and passionate local businesses who donate their surplus food to the Food Pantry, instead of sending it to landfill.

Minister Kean is a big supporter of ARCCO’s food rescue program, recently launching a film featuring a day-in-the-life of the Food Pantry; he also made a surprise announcement that he was donating $93,000 to help expand WOW.

Along with an ecologist, arborists and trained observers, children were invited to take part in this project through school tours and art classes. When it became clear this experiment was working, that bird life and other fauna were making use of the hollows and the preserved structure of this now dead Sydney blue gum, one of the arborists on the project broke down and cried with happiness.