It’s 6.30pm on a Tuesday and Melina Schamroth, 37, is cracking eggs and jokes at a Melbourne kitchen dedicated to making food for the homeless.
Before the night ends she and a dozen single volunteers will have whipped up 600 nutritious meals from food that would otherwise have gone to landfill. Later it will be distributed to people in need by 80 different organisations.
Auckland-born Schamroth is the formidable force behind M.A.D. Woman. “I am literally in the business of making a difference,” she says.
Since 2007 Schamroth has set up a series of volunteer programs for singles where people can meet, possibly find love or friendship, but definitely do something positive about social justice.
There’s Cooking for a Cause, a feast of goodwill and social networking that currently has a waiting list of hundreds, and Gardening for Good, projects dedicated to the likes of regenerating garden beds for disadvantaged and disabled youth and building a sensory garden for a unit for people with brain injury.
Both have captured the imagination of a growing number of people, many in high-profile professions, who feel it’s time to address some of the most pressing social concerns in our community.
With such demand, Schamroth is devising additional innovative projects to fill this gap and is in the process of expanding throughout Australia, with plans to run the program in New Zealand.
A former crime reporter for the Hawkes Bay Herald Tribune, her journey into the not-for-profit sector was inspired by her documentation of Eve van Grafhorst’s high-profile battle with HIV/Aids in Australia and New Zealand. When Eve died in 1993, Schamroth began pro bono work as a tribute and a way of furthering her passion for “people and the planet”.
Moving to Australia in 1996, Schamroth spent more than a decade working in marketing and PR with top 100 companies, not-for-profits and government organisations as well as studying philanthropy and social investment at Swinburne University in Melbourne.
“I always kept a hand in pro bono work,” says Schamroth, who persuaded 100 celebrities to give her the (signed) shirts off their backs to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation; convinced the Melbourne Arts Centre to turn its famous spire red to support the Red Cross; and helped raise funds to help improve the lives of patients awaiting kidney transplants.
While Schamroth charges a small administration fee for Singles Volunteers events, she still does corporate work around social responsibility to pay the bills while she continues to seek out sponsorship and donations.
“I no longer have a job,” she says. “I have a life that I love. While there might still be a few too many lentil meals, it’s so satisfying to be able to measure success based on achievements that are not just bottom-line driven. Having said that, financial support from a community focused business or individual would be invaluable.”
Other programs that Schamroth has been involved in include fundraising for a Midwife on a Motorbike scheme in Timor-Leste and for sexual and reproductive health packs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
She is also working to promote the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and landfill with the New Zealand-made Earthmaker compost bin, not to forget her two, self-published books on how anyone can change their life – How to Be M.A.D. (Making A Difference) and M.A.D. (Making A Difference) in a Green Way – which are available on her website.
madwoman.com.au
