Sheppparton Foodshare finally has a home of its own.
Construction has started on Foodshare’s new warehouse in Mooroopna, providing a permanent base for the business to operate its food rescue, warehousing and distribution service.
The site is located on Doonan St, Mooroopna, and will hopefully be fully operational to start next year.
Foodshare chair Jeremy Rensford said this was significant because it meant the organisation would operate on its own land with its own facilities rather than relying on other local businesses to house them for free.
He said as much as these acts of generosity were greatly appreciated, it simply wasn’t sustainable with the increased demand for Foodshare’s services.
The project was delivered with $600,000 from the Federal Government and $2.9 million from the state government, with the land donated by the Andreadis family.
The warehouse will feature loading facilities, an administration office, meeting rooms, storage space, a kitchen and amenities, and parking.
Foodshare warehouse co-ordinator Mel Redpath said the commercial kitchen was a game-changer, something Foodshare had never had before.
She said it allowed them to prepare foods in different ways to make them keep longer, thus reducing waste and promoting sustainable practises.
“I think it’s going to be a bit bigger than what we need,” Ms Redpath said.
“It gives us capacity to grow but also we’re building it so it can function if there’s another disaster.”
Long-time volunteer Shane Garner said it would increase the overall efficiency of operations within the organisation by having a space and facility that was specifically designed for Foodshare’s work.
Mr Rensford said Foodshare was giving out more food than ever before, but that they weren’t able to give out as much food to each individual because of the increased demand.
For him, the growth of Shepparton Foodshare over the past decade was bittersweet.
On one hand, he’s proud of the great work from the organisation and its volunteers and grateful for the continued community support.
But on the other, if Foodshare is growing it means it’s getting harder for people in Greater Shepparton to put food on the table.
“In a perfect world, we, our goal is to not exist.
“Our goal is to help people help themselves.
“Hopefully, we're going to help everybody get back on their feet, just provide that helping hand, and they won’t need us anymore.
“But that’s not the reality we live in, we don’t want to increase our services but we definitely want to be more efficient and this will help us do that.
“And when you've got that space, you can then dare to dream.
“If it's not there then it's just, it's all hot air.
“But when it's physically there, the dishwasher, the sink, then we can reach out and strengthen those community connections and engage everyone, which is great.”