Foodbank partners celebrity talent

Foodbank's plate art auction helps those in need. Twenty Australian personalities from diverse fields of endeavour have come together in support of Australians in need this Christmas by giving free reign to  their creativity for an initiative of Foodbank, the country's largest hunger relief organisation.

The Foodbank Plate Art Project brings together actors, artists, comedians, athletes, chefs, designers and politicians who have each designed and painted a plate to be auctioned on eBay this week. All proceeds from the auctions will go to Foodbank to help the hundred of thousands of people who will need food relief this Christmas.

Participating celebrities include art legend, Ken Done, actor and painter Barry Otto, the world's favourite children's band, The Wiggles, renowned chefs Pete Evans and Poh Ling Yeow, Home & Away stars Lisa Gormley and Catherine Mack-Hancock, adventure travel show presenter Tim Charody, comedian Hannah Gadsby and even Senator Barnaby Joyce!

There has also been enthusiastic support from the sporting sector with Olympians Jana Pittman, Cate Campbell and Anna Meares, Wallabies Captain James Horwill and motor racing celebrity couple Garth and Leanne Tander all coming on board for the project. In addition leading fashion designers Charlie Brown, Clea Garrick (Limedrop) and Jac+ Jack have shifted their creative focus from clothes to plates with some amazing results.

The plates are currently on exhibition at the MRA gallery in Alexandria Sydney, which is open daily to the public. The gallery space has been donated by owner and artist Rex Turnbull, who has also designed a plate for the collection.

The plates can be found here......

 Give a 'rescue gift'

This holiday season, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is offering meaningful gifts that capture the true spirit of the season and have the power to save lives.

Each symbolic Rescue Gift - from a Baby Goat to the gift of Clean Water - represents a program, project or tool that the IRC uses in its critical humanitarian work around the world. Many also reflect the IRC's dedication to ensuring that refugees have access to nutritious food even during times of crisis. Gifts will be used where and when most needed to provide help and hope to people who have been uprooted by conflict or disaster.

Gift-givers can browse Rescue Gifts online and dedicate them to loved ones, who will receive beautiful personalized print or e-cards to acknowledge the gift. There is a Rescue Gift for everyone on a foodie's list, at a variety of price points. A small sampling:

Here are some ideas - it's never too late to give these:

• For the partner or spouse:  Emergency Food ($68) can deliver a month's supply of vitamin-rich therapeutic food for at least 50 malnourished children in places wracked by food shortages or famine.
• For children, to teach them the value of giving: A Baby Goat Rescue Gift ($50) can provide relief for a family in a drought-stricken area like Somalia. When grown, a goat can provide milk for malnourished children.
• For the sweet tooth: A Honeybee Harvest Kit Rescue Gift ($72) can help farmers boost their income through beekeeping by providing hive frames, a smoker and a bee brush.
• For the green thumb: A Community Garden Rescue Gift ($60) can provide tools and seeds to refugees who have been resettled in the United States, so that they can grow their own fresh, healthy food in an IRC community garden.For the chef: An Emergency Cookstoves Rescue Gift ($53) can help deliver 8 propane-powered cookstoves to families displaced by decades of war in Afghanistan. These enable families to prepare their own warm meals, another step on the road to recovery.

As an added bonus, shoppers who spend $75 or more at Rescue.org/Gifts will receive a fashionable 'Rescue' T-shirt or can have it sent as a gift.