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So I’ve just come to the end of my first week working with STREAT and thought that I would share some reflections of my experience with you, because working with STREAT really is like a dream!

Arriving on day one I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, so I decided to approach the day with my mind and heart open, ready for everything that might come my way.

I think this paid off because I was welcomed so warmly by a team of amazing people, and was even treated to an early morning coffee run to our lovely neighbours at Kinfolk Cafe. A sneaker of inspiration from our CEO Rebecca Scott completed my STREAT welcome and kicked my journey off to a start.

Not too long after I had fired up my computer, our trainees from class two and three started to arrive, and the STREAT HQ was a hive of excitement. The trainees were all dressed to impress, ready to be hosted by the Langham for a kitchen tour and full course lunch. Happy snaps taken by yours truly captured the moment and I felt incredibly lucky to share it with them.

Enter Bec’s Big Black Book… The conceptual heartbeat of STREAT, and my first communications strategy session was underway. This was essentially an ideas session full of thinking BIG in a dynamic and creative space and having lots of fun and laughs throughout the process. For what only seemed like an hour turned out to be closer to three, before our rumbling tummies told us to call it a day and grab some lunch!

Day two, and while still feeling shiny and new, I’m also feeling ready to begin bringing our BIG ideas to life and enter the next generation of STREAT communications! Later that morning, we were treated to a surprise visit by Bec’s Dad who stopped by the office to stock STREAT’s kitchen with some of his very own honey, an affinity with food clearly runs in the Scott family.

The next day was full of meeting new people up at the Hub Melbourne’s regular mixed bag lunch. This was followed by some secret squirrel business back at the STREAT office, the details of which will be revealed very soon, so stay tuned!

My last day of the week was full of feeling as proud as punch, as our second class of trainees graduated from the 6 month STREAT program. Each of their individual journeys have been pretty incredible and I felt so privileged to celebrate the rewards of their hard work by going bowling and sharing a final meal together at the STREAT foodcart in Fed Square.

Melbourne must have known this day was special, because we were treated to a bright and sunny day, just as bright as the futures that lay ahead of each of the trainees. We wish you the best of luck class two!!

So there you have it, this wraps up my very first week at STREAT, it has been a great start to my journey, and I’m really excited to share it with you all. Till next time!

My first day at STREAT as a Marketing and Communications volunteer was nothing less than an adventure! 

The task: To visit Melbourne street artists with illusive names creating art in secret locations in order to collect generously donated art works for the launch of STREAT Cart 2 (it sounds like a Hollywood blockbuster but I can assure you it was more than that). 

The explorers: Sunisa, head of STREAT’s Marketing and Communications team and her trusty accomplice Beck, both risking hours out-of-the-office to find artistic works. But hey, someone’s gotta do it!

The outcome: We zig-zagged through the lane-ways of Melbourne, stopping briefly for a much needed coffee. We continued on to our destination - a lane enclave covered with stencils, murals, stickers and the like. 

We climbed through a door half the size of us when I couldn’t help but think I was on the set of Willy Wonka. However unlike Wonka, there was no wall of fruit stickers to lick, though I was tempted to suggest it. Instead, the humble bustle of Blender Studios, off Franklin Street, where some artists – Drewfunk, Ha Ha, Adi-- generously donate their art works to help out organisations such as STREAT. 

The artist we were after, Drewfunk, informed us that the signs we were to pick up were not all complete so he invited us to ‘hang’ which we found quite a privilege. We got to witness a well-respected street artist at work, yay! When the artworks were pronounced dry we proudly carried them across the city to the STREAT office where an eruption of oo’s and ahh’s meant the artworks were most appreciated and loved!

If day one is anything to go by, volunteering at STREAT will require me to be super fit but it‘s definitely worth it. 

At STREAT our number one concern is to deliver a top rate experience for our trainees, but we are also passionate about sustainability and low impact eating. We have an open and ongoing dialogue with staff members and industry specialists on cutting edge and common sense ways to reduce to reduce our carbon foot print and spread awareness about green solutions. To this end, recently we met with Andy Jones (sustainability practitioner and all-round nice guy) to discuss strategies and ideas for making STREAT products as ethically and environmentally friendly as possible.

Some of the issues we covered where: food miles, using seasonal ingredients, justice and Fair Trade issues, and using organic produce where ever possible. One of the things we learnt was sometimes you have to weigh what’s better between a fully organically grown tomato driven down from Queensland or an in-season but pesticide-covered tomato grown locally?  Another example Andy used was the plastic wrapped super market cucumbers can actually use less packaging to get from farm to you than the unwrapped cucumbers!

We decided one of the best ways we can make an impact is by educating ourselves and the public as best we can and spread awareness. For instance it’s one thing us having fully bio-degradable spoons, garbage bags and soup cups etc, but if somebody buys a meal from us then dumps the container in general waste with a plastic rubbish bag it kind of defeats the purpose. We can conclude from this that another step we can take is convincing surrounding councils and businesses to use bio-degradable rubbish bags and separate recyclables where possible.

As you can see this will have to be an ongoing and in-depth process to reduce our negative impact and raise the bar for our positive impact.

At STREAT we’re always looking for ways for you to show your support and help us stop homelessness. Our latest idea? T-shirts. Spunky, fun shirts custom-printed to order on soft American Apparel cotton.

We’ve got all sorts of colours for you to choose from—light and dark grey, red,  maroon, black, cream, and white—and fits come in standard t-shirt, long-sleeved, girlie fit and hoodie. Have a play on the Red Bubble website where you can see how the shirt colour looks with the design. Then put your order through their e-commerce system.  

Have fun!

Click here to go to Red Bubble's website and order a t-shirt.