Olives to Oil Volunteering 2025

Olives to Oil Festival Event Volunteers
Presented in partnership with My Smart Garden and Brimbank, Darebin, Hobsons Bay, Maribyrnong, Merri-Bek and Whittlesea Councils, Olives to Oil is an annual event run by CERES, bringing people together to harvest olives and have them pressed communally into delicious, local olive oil.

Background
CERES Olives to Oil is an annual community festival bringing people together to celebrate the importance of local food in our communities as well as recognising the wonderful heritage of diverse food cultures we enjoy. We also encourage people to harvest unused olives from backyard or neighbourhood trees and bring them to us as part of the community olive oil pressing. Once pressed into oil, this is given back to those who contributed.

Volunteering Objectives
To support the Festival team with collecting of olives and distributing of olive oil to participants.

Volunteer Shifts and Locations
This year we have five olive drop off dates at CERES Brunswick, Newport, Braybrook, Whittlesea and Oakleigh. On drop off days, participants come along with their olives, get them weighed, and pop them into our crates to be sent off for oil pressing. There will then be three pick up dates in Preston, Yarraville and Lalor where participants come along to collect their olive oil. We have morning and afternoon volunteer shifts available on each day. See details of dates, times and locations below:

Olive drop off - Northside
Sun 4th May 2025, CERES Brunswick. Shifts: 10AM - 1.15PM or 1PM - 4PM 
Saturday 24th May 2025, CERES Brunswick. Shifts: 10AM - 1.15PM or 1PM - 4PM

Olive drop off - Westside
Sun 11th May 2025, Newport Community Hub, Newport. Shifts: 10AM - 1.15PM or 1PM - 4PM
Sun 18th May 2025, Braybrook Community Hub, Braybrook. Shifts: 10AM - 1.15PM or 1PM - 4PM

Olive drop off - Whittlesea
Sat 17th May 2025, May Road Senior Citizen Centre, Lalor. Shifts 11AM - 2.15PM or 2PM - 5PM

Olive oil pick up - Northside
Sunday 15th June 2025, CERES Fair Food Preston. Shifts: 10AM - 1.15PM or 1PM - 4PM

Olive oil pick up - Westside 
Sunday 1st June 2025, McNish Reserve, Yarraville. Shifts: 10AM - 1.15PM or 1PM - 4PM

Olive oil pick up - Whittlesea
Saturday 14th June, May Road Senior Citizen Centre, Lalor. Shifts: 10AM - 1.15PM or 1PM - 4PM

Specific Tasks and Duties:

Olive drop-off days: Weighing, collecting and recording quantity of olives from people who bring them along

Olive oil collection days: Distributing olive oil and giving it to people who register to collect it

Olive oil bottling day: Assisting with bottling of olive oil into containers

Welcoming people and directing them

Helping to pack down the event at the end

Benefits:

Receive a bottle of delicious olive oil

Be part of local food-systems work in action

Be part of a vibrant, local food-focussed community event

Help turn otherwise-wasted olives into delicious local olive oil

Meet like-minded individuals

Training: Induction will be provided on the day you volunteer