Food relief programs across the border are gearing up for their busiest period heading into the festive season with two Victorian MPs ensuring regional foodbanks don’t miss out.
Member for Northern Victoria Gaelle Broad said that the Victorian Government must guarantee genuine support for vital food relief programs in regional areas amid concerns smaller communities are missing out.
She said the government must ensure a fair distribution of funds by Foodbank Victoria so regional programs, such as Albury Wodonga FoodShare who Amaranth are incorporated and Moira FoodShare are not forgotten.
“Our local FoodShare’s provide vital emergency assistance through the distribution of free fresh and non-perishable food to residents in our local shires,” Ms Broad said.
“Member for Ovens Valley Tim McCurdy and I visited Moira FoodShare in Cobram last year, where we saw firsthand the incredible work that the team do, providing food to individuals and families who need it most.
“With the ongoing cost of living crisis crippling families, the need for food relief continues to grow, and whilst funds are being allocated to Foodbank Victoria, the support is not filtering through to our smaller rural communities.”
Ms Broad raised the issue in Parliament recently, saying not all areas are covered by the Regional Food Security Alliance, and smaller areas like Amaranth are missing out.
“The truth is that the State Government must step up and taken action to ensure that Foodbank Victoria delivers support beyond the big cities and provides a fair share to smaller communities in northern Victoria as well,” Ms Broad said.
Amaranth FoodShare Coordinator Julianne Whyte said that it was decided at Amaranth to never means test anyone because everyone at some point in their lives is going to need help but to also assist these people, Amaranth themselves need help with funding.
“The Albury Wodonga FoodShare who we receive our goods from is under the Victorian jurisdiction. NSW has OzHarvest and through that we do get some food from Safeway in Corowa,” Ms Whyte said.
“My issue is we have to pay $600 a month for our delivery of food and that is consistent, so about $6000 a year.
“We get no funding for that. We can’t ask for money from the participants to help cover the cost of it. The donation dollar and fundraising is also very tight for everyone at the moment.
“That is a cost that Amaranth cover. We can’t get any funding from the Victorian FoodShare because they just take it all in Melbourne.
“The Wodonga FoodShare, when they go for grants, and they have just received a few which we write letters of support for, we unfortunately don’t get any share of.”
Ms Whyte said over the past several years, the amount of food that is being supplied to Amaranth is also dissipating and without FoodShare funding, it is a struggle to source further food.
“We get about three tonnes of both perishable and non-perishable food a week that we distribute to over 320 people weekly,” Ms Whyte said.
“We noticed that a lot of people come down to Food Bowl first then head to the supermarket. That way they get what they can and are then able to put their money into the big ticket items like laundry detergent and flour that we just can’t give them.
“We get no funding at all for this. It actually costs us to get the food distributed.
“I get really cranky because we have applied for a lot of grants in that space, but we never get them.
“It is always FoodShare in Melbourne or even the larger regional centres. OzHarvest is also challenging.
“Safeway Corowa is very generous and if they have food available, they really will share. Generally we receive about one to two trolleys full a week and IGA are also very generous.
“It is upsetting that a bulk of the financial and the food share is now distributed through the major distribution hubs.
“I also can’t now go to Uncle Toby’s and ask for a distribution, it has to go through official channels.
“We have lost our ability to negotiate with Coles and the large companies etc. We are lucky that we are well known to Safeway Corowa and IGA, but we used to be able to go to Uncle Toby’s and ask for any donations, but we can’t anymore.
“There is food now that goes from Uncle Toby’s to Sydney or Melbourne and is redistributed out to the regions, and sometimes we may get very minimal or nothing at all and that is a company that is just done the road for us.
“There is no visibility where that all goes.”
Ms Whyte added that whilst Amaranth and Food Bowl are grateful for the supplies they receive, there is a real discrepancy in the distribution of FoodShare to the regions.
“We do the same order every week, it never changes. But there is no control in what we get,” Ms Whyte said.
“We don’t get essential items such as laundry powder or pet food, that is kept back by the major centres.
“Some weeks we get very little distributed. We generally get the leftovers from Wodonga.
“It has a trickle-down effect. We used to get a truckload of food and could manage a whole week easily whereas now we have had to restrict what people get every week because we have no control as to what comes to us.”
With retail businesses’ busiest time of year and the time for families to come together and enjoy their time without the hassles of everyday life, Ms Whyte said due to the costing of food and the state FoodShare, many may have to go without.
“Even the Christmas hampers that were available from Melbourne, we had to pay $25 a box to get any share of that,” Ms Whyte said.
“It is the time of year that people just want to be surrounded by their families, enjoying their time together and not worrying about finances.
“But even through FoodShare’s, they may not be able to get the Christmas essentials that we are all accustomed to.
“We are making sure if people are donating hams or your Christmas specific type of food, that we can hold on to it and hand it out just before Christmas as a special thing to enjoy over the Christmas period.
“It is also hard to advocate for certain matters as we don’t want to come across as ungrateful.
“We have a group of Ladies Lions, that if we are requiring some household or personal items such as men’s toiletries, they will just turn up with a big bag of those toiletries that we then make into packs and pass onto the men that visit us.
“My aim would be if we could get about $10,000 a year to cover the subscription to FoodShare, that would make my heart feel fantastic.”
Ms Whyte said all year round, but especially during the festive season, anyone is welcome to donate any food items particularly that they are no longer in need of.
“Anyone can donate. Anything that people have that they would like to donate and give back to the community we are very grateful to receive,” Ms Whyte said.
“You can drop it off at the Amaranth office in Corowa in Redlands Road, or for monetary donations, visit the website at https//www.amaranth.or.au.
“If people would like to volunteer, that would also be a massive help to us so that we could then have the Food Bowl open for longer hours.
“At the end of the day, assisting in any way possible with FoodShare or Food Bowl is locals helping locals.”