Northern NSW charities benefit from Feed Appeal donation

Food relief charities straining to meet rising demand for food amid the pandemic and lockdowns will be able to better serve struggling Northern NSW residents.

Nimbin Central School breakfast club founder Marc Le Bars feels proud to be serving nutritional meals for the students.

Tweed charities and a Nimbin school have shared in $1.96 million raised during the Feed Appeal to provide almost four million meals for vulnerable Australians.

Funds raised in the annual campaign will support Australia’s largest charity kitchen FareShare to cook millions of free, nutritious meals for people doing it tough and provide 29 community grants to food relief charities across the nation to expand their meal programs.

Vibe Care at Tweed Heads received $38,992 for a forklift and cold room which pastor David Nahi said would greatly increase capacity to help Northern NSW and Gold Coast residents with food relief and other support services.

“A frustration we had is knowing that if we had a decent size cool room, we would be able to have a lot more food on hand (in storage) to help us keep up with the growing demand,” he said.

“The new forklift is going to make a huge difference in helping us to unload large pallets of produce and food items off our truck, move and stack them into our storage areas, and place them around our public access areas efficiently, and safely.”

Tom, Jacqui, and Dwayne serve families that use Vibe Care’s service.

His group assists about 700 families each week, including pensioners, homeless people, unemployed, people with disabilities, single parent families and people doing it tough in general.

Meanwhile, The Nimbin Central School P&C Committee has received a $6581 boost to their breakfast club with the addition of a heavy duty juicer, toaster, blender and cooking equipment.

The committee has run the club for 12 years for students of all ages.

Principal Catherine Marshall said the upgraded facilities would benefit the school’s students.

“Our breakfast club is already an essential service in our school, greatly valued by our school community for providing a healthy and nourishing opportunity for breakfast for our entire school,” she said.

“The breakfast club is an avenue in which these students receive a range of nutritional food to sustain their growth and learning.”

Nimbin Central School breakfast club founder Marc Le Bars feels proud to be serving nutritional meals for the students.

She said it was also a good way of encouraging punctual school attendance.

“In addition, it can now offer a greater variety of food, for example, juices and smoothies, which will allow us to take advantage of donations of fruit and vegetables and provide nutritious variety for our students,” she said.

She said the grant also helped build capacity and capability to offer a quicker and increased range of breakfasts, allowing for the program to expand.

Another beneficiary of the appeal was Tweed Heads organisation Agape Outreach, which provides 700 cooked meals on the streets each week to the homeless or people in food insecurity.

Agape’s food supplies have dropped by a third since the Covid pandemic began but requests for support have doubled.

The service currently has at least one day a week when it has to turn people away as they don’t have the means to support them.

Founder Theresa Mitchell said the majority of clients walking through their doors were in depression or shock at the situation they found themselves in.

She said that usually meant they were not eating and not focusing on the nutritional needs of their children.

“Agape supports them with these basics,” she said.

“We also have many seniors that put all the money into accommodation and need long-term food support.”

Agape Outreach volunteers serve up meals.

FareShare CEO Marcus Godinho said this year’s Feed Appeal funding would have an immediate impact on people struggling to put food on the table.

“FareShare is experiencing the greatest escalation in demand for its meals in our 20-year history with charities requesting double the number of meals they usually order, other charities having to be placed on a waiting list and individuals seeking us out for meals,” he said.

“For us, providing a home style meal on the table for an individual or a family doing it tough is one way we can help and provide hope in these challenging times.

The appeal, which was co-founded by News Corp Australia and FareShare, provided grants in NSW, Victoria, SA, ACT, Queensland, and WA for frontline community charities to purchase much-needed equipment such as vans, fridges, freezers and kitchen equipment.

Australian olive oil and vinegar producer Squeaky Gate supports the Feed Appeal Rural Grants program to ensure country areas doing it tough receive the food relief they need.

Squeaky Gate marketing manager Kristen Moxey said they were proud to be a partner for the second consecutive year.

“Sadly, food insecurity in our regional and rural communities continues to be an ongoing and significant issue,” she said.

“The combined effects of natural disasters, geography, and the pandemic has created a unique set of stressors in these areas that requires innovative thinking and resources to resolve.

“We have close ties to these communities and believe that now, more than ever, we need to support fellow Australians in need.”

News Corp Australia’s community ambassador Penny Fowler said the result from this year’s fundraising would have a direct impact on the most disadvantaged Australians.

“The generosity of those who supported the Feed Appeal this year cannot be understated,” she said.

“This funding crucially will help ensure those in need will not have to worry about where their next meal will come from, or how to feed their family.

“Thank you to everyone who donated and especially Woolworths customers for supporting the Feed Appeal’s mission to feed Australia.”

For more information visit Feedappeal.org.au.