The man behind Christmas Day lunch

Sean Breen has just come off a massive Christmas – supplying 53kg of ham, 46kg of turkey, 100 bon-bons and 10,000 chocolates to the Sacred Heart Mission meals program.

However, this huge fundraising achievement didn’t start so big.

Fourteen years ago, when working at NAB in Elsternwick, Sean had noticed a man experiencing homelessness sleeping in the downstairs car park. When he noticed the mixed reactions from staff, he thought an education session on homelessness would be a good idea. Having volunteered with in the past, he knew they were the right people to call on.

“Sacred Heart Mission spoke to us about homelessness and how it impacts different people and how people react. It was quite confronting for a few of the staff and pretty powerful actually. And from that, we as a team volunteered.”

But volunteering wasn’t enough for Sean.

“I met with Sacred Heart Mission, and I just said, look, what can we do to help? They said, Easter is a hard time. We don’t really have any Easter eggs or chocolates or anything. And I went, right, leave it with me.”

Sean went back to his team and started a donation drive to collect Easter eggs.

“The first year I think I donated like a shoe box full of Easter eggs. And then from that it sort of became, well, what about we do something for Christmas?”.

Over the next seven years, Sean would put the call out to colleagues, other NAB branches, friends and family to donate chocolates.

“I tried to create something that was really simple and cost effective. It didn’t cost people a lot of money, but it made a big difference on the other side. Little things from a lot of people make a bigger difference than big things from one.”

Sean would then drive all over Melbourne picking up the chocolates which would be placed on people’s food trays at Christmas and Easter.

“It took a lot of time, but it was rewarding. I’d load the car up and then I’d collect them all and take them all down. Then when COVID happened, that really triggered the change for a financial contribution that I would then use to go and buy what we needed.”

Sean was completely blown away by people’s generosity.

“I was getting so much money donated. But there’s only so many chocolates people can eat. And so even I was feeling like, there’s other things that are probably better for people and more nutritious than this.”

So Sean asked us, “What else can I help with?”

Sean now donates meat and veggies for Christmas Day lunch, lamb and hot cross buns for Easter lunch, and last year even put on a Christmas in July meal.

Last year, Sean set a new record in generosity – covering Christmas lunch not only for people at residential aged care facility but also our Dining Hall.

“We just doubled down on the ham and turkey this year. I remember thinking, how good is it that 400-500 people are eating a meal like this, and we’ve made that happen?”

Sean’s enormous contribution reflects his deeply held values.

“I think having a home and having a meal every day are just basic rights that everyone should have, it’s not lost on me how grateful I am to have those things. It became even more important to me to highlight that for people.”

“Christmas is a classic example. People that don’t know, they just take for granted the overindulgence that we have at Christmas. It just has so much more meaning and impact to think that other people aren’t missing out and they’re actually getting something that’s just one of the basic things that we all take for granted.”

In addition to countless kilos of chocolates and other food donated over the years, Sean has also raised $42,000 since 2018. He never expected the fundraiser to grow to such massive proportions.

“I just wanted to do something small and help. I never would have imagined that it got to this this sort of level. But I guess that’s how things start, don’t they? You know, small fish grow into big fish. It’s just been slow and steady and about being consistent. I think that’s what’s made it successful.”