By Mary Ward
At Wayside Chapel in inner Sydney, pastor Jon Owen is crunching the numbers. They aren’t adding up like they used to.
Last winter the service, which celebrated its 60th anniversary this year, was providing about 1000 meals a week to the needy. This year, it’s 1600.
At the same time, one of the organisation’s food stock suppliers, which Owen did not want to name given their ongoing relationship, has reduced its donations by 80 per cent.
Pastor Jon Owen, left, and Rohan Cannon serving meals at Wayside Chapel on Friday.Credit: James Brickwood
“We can no longer continue to rely on pro bono providers of food,” Owen said.
“To meet current demand, Wayside now needs to purchase additional food supplies at a value of $60,000 per annum.”
With rising grocery prices, and rent and mortgage payments shrinking family budgets, charitable organisations in Sydney say that food insecurity is emerging as the major issue facing the vulnerable this winter.
NSW Council of Social Service chief executive Cara Varian said its member organisations, which provide food and shelter to those in need, were reporting an increase in people seeking services.
“Our members have also reported a significant shift in the clients they are seeing,” she added.
“Most notably, they are seeing new families on dual incomes who have previously made ends meet, but are now struggling to get by.”
The Salvation Army’s 2024 Red Shield report surveyed 1500 people who used its emergency relief services, describing their level of food insecurity as “alarming”.
“Many [were] forced to skip meals or endure hunger because they could not afford enough food to eat,” the report read.
“Some even had to make the difficult choice of forgoing meals to ensure their children or family pets were fed.
“The impact also extended to many families, with some unable to provide three meals a day for their children, leading to situations where children went to school hungry or without lunch.”
Almost half of those surveyed would go without food for an entire day due to financial difficulties.
This weekend, Foodbank Victoria will hold an emergency drive for pantry staples. Like Wayside, it has also seen a decline in donations from its partner organisations.
Varian said the current level of food insecurity in Australia was unacceptable, urging government action.
Rohan Cannon, 62, has been working as a pathways counsellor at Wayside for eight years. A former tech director at the old Sydney Convention Centre, he pursued a career change to mental health work after overcoming his own addictions almost 30 years ago.
“I came from a very good family, I was well educated, but alcoholism doesn’t discriminate,” Cannon said.
He draws on his own lived experience to help the people who come through the doors.
“In my case, I thought all the problems I was having meant I needed to be drinking and drugging, but it turned out the reason I was having the problems was because I was drinking and drugging,” he said.
However, Cannon said “the practical stuff” – food, clothes, temporary accommodation – was becoming increasingly difficult for Wayside to provide.
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