GIPPSLAND Centre and Wellington Food Pantry have teamed up to help provide relief for locals affected by food insecurity, with a new food donation bin in the centre already providing a boost for the high demand.
Wellington Food Pantry Inc are a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers to provide food relief to people in Sale and surrounding areas. Registered customers generally come in each fortnight to pick up three or four bags of groceries for $10.
Money is raised through the Wellington Community Opportunity Shop on MacArthur St and the service relies on supplies being delivered through Foodbank Australia.
The service is run by dedicated volunteers who are passionate about helping those in need. Recently, state schools in Australia have noted that many students are coming to school without lunch, due to the cost of living increases hitting families hard.
Gippsland Centre has recently aligned with Wellington Food Pantry and is encouraging their retailers and customers to find ways to help.
“So much food that is perfectly good goes to waste each day, let’s divert that food to the people in our community who need it,” Gippsland Centre manager Emma Waghorne said.
“Woolworths have come on board and are providing boxes of apples, oranges, bananas and mandarins each week.
“The Reject Shop brought in about 50 soups and 15 boxes of tea bags too.”
Other stores have also provided food products, which has been gratefully received.
Gippsland Centre now has a donation bin located at the Woolworths end of the centre. And so far, Wellington residents have already given back.
Ms Waghorne said after the bin was put in place on a Wednesday, and by that Monday morning was full of donated food.
“We are very happy with the community spirit being shown,” Ms Wagnorne said.
“I would love to see the community get behind helping those in need by donating one or two items when you shop each week. The people in need are our neighbours, and we need to be looking after each other.
“This is one small way we can each give back to the community, you never know when you may need to access a service like Wellington Food Pantry yourself. I encourage everyone in our community to get behind this initiative and help in any way you can.”
Each week, Wellington Food Pantry provides food relief to more than 100 Sale families and outreach services to Yarram and Golden Beach.
Wellington Food Pantry spokesperson Keeley Barakat said with the cost of living rising so dramatically, many of the families they support are trying to choose between paying the mortgage or being able to provide food for their families each week.
“These are often working people who find it harder to make ends meet,” Ms Barakat said.
“We are very grateful for all donations received and some high demand items are hygiene items, baby food, nappies and non-perishable food items.”
Ms Barakat said Wellington Food Pantry, which began operating just before the pandemic, has seen more demand this year than ever before.
“It’s the worst we’ve ever seen,” she said.
“We were averaging about 10 customers a week in previous years, but within the last six months we’re averaging about 80-to-100 a week.”
The customers seeking support are across all ages, including pensioners, students, families struggling to pay the mortgage, the homeless and single parents.
“It was mostly pensioners in previous years, but now it’s a wide spectrum of people, it wasn’t that way before. They’re just finding it so tough to make ends meet,” Ms Barakat said.
Truecare support worker Benji Schuback brings his clients to the Wellington Food Pantry, who are generally from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, have a disability or a mental illness.
He said the elderly and people with disabilities are the ones falling through the cracks without access to support. Others are having to relocate due to the high cost of rent.
“People are struggling more and more just for the basics, like bread and milk. The cost of everything is skyrocketing,” he said.
Ms Barakat said she would love to hear from any businesses that has food wastage that could be collected at the end of each day and refrigerated for distribution the next day.
Send a message via Wellington Food Pantry’s Facebook page if your business can help by providing donations or sponsorship.
If you’d like to volunteer, receive food relief or donate groceries or money, the Wellington Food Pantry’s opening days and hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 9.30am to 2pm, and Friday 9.30am-12.30pm. If you can afford it, for $10 they’ll provide pantry staples, bread, frozen meals, fruit, vegetables, and sanitary items.
The pantry can be found in the Umart mall on Raymond St in Sale.
